A Study on the Spatial Organization of the Houses of Panam ...
Transcript of A Study on the Spatial Organization of the Houses of Panam ...
A Study on the Spatial Organization of the Houses of Panam Nagar, Sonargaon
By
Pushpita Eshika
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
DHAKA, BANGLADESH
December, 2010
2
Abstract
The ancient city of Panam was established in late 19th century in a non-urban setting in Dhaka region. Panam was famous for cotton manufacturing and trading during British rule. The cotton traders built a good number of closely located and nicely ornamented buildings with narrow street frontage. According to history these buildings were owned by merchants who were absentee landlords, coming Panam once or twice a year. However, history explained little about their life styles and function of these buildings. The area was well protected by cannels which run around Panam Nagar. The buildings apparently similar from outward had a variety in terms of their spatial organizations which remains unexplained without any evidence of their use pattern. In their study Asiatic Society of Bangladesh classified the buildings of Panam into three basic typology-‘the double heighted hall type’, ‘the courtyard type’ and ‘the consolidated type’. Apparently the layouts of large houses of Panam, with courtyards, are similar to the urban houses of Dhaka region having courtyards with encircling corridors giving access to series of rooms. But the double heighted hall remained uncommon in the house forms of Dhaka. Again the consolidated houses of Panam do not have any kind of similarity with the prevailing consolidated houses of Dhaka. Although researchers attempted to classify those buildings into common residential types available in this region, a large number of buildings of Panam remain unexplained due to their idiosyncrasies and dissimilarities with the available types. With the help of space syntax this thesis tried to find out the genotypes of the houses of Panam Nagar. Space syntax transforms the buildings into the form of adjacency graphs to represent, quantify and interpret spatial pattern in such a way that their underlying ‘social logic’ is understood. In search of genotypes, the syntactic data compiled here are compared to find any difference in the spatial organization among the different type of houses of Panam and to explain the ordering of space in these buildings in relation to the prevailing types in Dhaka region. However, spatial analysis reveals that ringiness became the major character of these buildings. In fact, the houses of Panam have overlapping rings connecting most of the interior spaces along with the exterior suggesting the depth of the buildings of Panam much shallower than the buildings of Dhaka. From graph analysis it is quite clear that the halls were distributed with the exterior in a ring, thus become shallower and easily permeable for the visitors. It can be interpreted as the need of privacy was low indicating that buildings have less residential quality in respect to the socio-cultural background of Dhaka. Interestingly, spatial analysis suggests that the consolidated type buildings with segregated central spaces and integrated frontal rooms are completely different from any prevailing typology of Dhaka. Thus with the support of space syntax analysis this research suggests that perhaps some of the houses of Panam were not residential type; rather they have some other commercial use which is not clear from their history.
3
Glossary
Space Syntax-Space Syntax is a method for describing and analyzing the relationships between spaces of urban areas and buildings. Graph is a figure representing the relationships of permeability between all the convex spaces or axial spaces of a layout. The spaces are represented by circles or dots (called nodes) and the links with lines. It is possible to also use links in order to represent relationships of visibility between spaces. Justified Graph- A justified graph is a diagramming technique for revealing the topology of a spatial organization. A justified graph organizes the spaces in a building in relationship to each other with the carrier at the bottom and the other spaces arranged in rows above corresponding to the number of steps in from the carrier. Convex Space- Convex space is a space where no line between any two of its points crosses the perimeter. A concave space has to be divided into the least possible number of convex spaces. Root Point/Node-The point inside or outside of a building from where syntactic measures of other spaces are taken. Ring- When one space is linked to another space with more than one link in syntactic measure it is called ring. Ringiness- Having rings in a space syntax tree is a special character of the tree. This character is called ringiness. It describes the arrangement and distribution of spaces in a building. Those spaces that share a ring can be accessed from any point of that ring. Ringiness determines the level of privacy and relation between spaces of a building. Syntactic step is defined as the direct connection or permeable relation between a space and its immediate neighbours or between overlapping isovists. In an axial map a syntactic step may be understood as the change of direction from one line to another. Integrated space- A space where the more there will be a tendency to the integration of social categories-such as the categories of inhabitant and stranger can be defined as an integrated space. Segregated space- A space where the more there will be a tendency to segregation of social categories can be described as segregated space. Integration- Integration is a static global measure. It describes the average depth of a space to all other spaces in the system. The spaces of a system can be ranked from the most integrated to the most segregated. Depth- Depth between two spaces is defined as the least number of syntactic steps in a graph Uni-permeable cell- A cell with one entrance can be defined as an uni-permeable cell Bi-permeable cell- A cell with more than one entrance can be identified as bipermeable cell. Control- Control is a dynamic local measure. It measures the degree to which a space controls access to its immediate neighbours taking into account the number of alternative connections that each of these neighbours have. Permeable space-spaces that can be accessible from other spaces. Genotype-The genotype is the generic makeup of a building or an individual space usually with reference to a specific characteristic under consideration.
4
Uni-linear sequence- Uni-linear sequence is such a series of bi-permeable spaces which are linked to their next space but does not form any ring and thus ends in a terminal uni-permeable space. Correspondent system-A system which does not need strong control, strong boundary and internal hierarchy of spaces. It must seek to maximize local encounters regardless of labels and global encounters regardless of spatial group Non-correspondent system-A system which needs strong control, strong boundary and internal hierarchy of spaces. Spatial Solidarity- A spatial solidarity builds link with other members of the group by contiguity and encounter. It stresses not the separation of the interior but the continuity of the interior and the exterior. Movement across boundary is the fundamental condition of for existence of spatial solidarity. In a spatial solidarity, the weakening of boundary is associated with the weaker structure of the interior. (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:145) Transpatial Solidarity- A transpatial system is a class of spatially independent but comparable entities which has global affiliations, not by virtue of proximity but by analogy and differences. Solidarity will be transpatial to the extent that it develops a strong and more homogenous interior structuring of space and emphasizes the discreteness of the interior by strong control of boundary (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:145).
5
Table of Content Page No Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Glossary iv Table of Contents v
Chapter One: Introduction 01-15
1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Background of Panam: 3 1.2.1 Geographical background 3 1.2.2 Historical Background 4 1.2.3 Architectural Background 4 1.3 Problem Statement 5 1.3.1 Research Question 6 1.3.2 Objective of the Research 6 1.4 Rational of the Study 7 1.5 Limitations 7 1.6 Methodology 8 1.6.1 Literature Survey 8 1.6.2 Study of Cartographic Maps and Archeological Documentations 10 1.6.3 Field Survey and Selection of Case Study 12 1.6.4 Syntactic Analysis 12 1.7 Structure of the Research
14
Chapter Two: Context 16-27
2.1 Introduction 17 2.2.1 Historical Location of Sonargaon in the Context of Bengal 17 2.2.2 Sonargaon in the History of Bengal 17 2.3 Panam- In the Context of Sonargaon 19 2.4 Commercial Interface of Panam Nagar-Sonargaon in the context of
Bengal 21
2.5 Population and Social Structure of Panam Nagar 23 2.6 Physical Layout and Settlement Pattern of Panam Nagar 24 2.7 Conclusion 25
Chapter Three: House Form in the Region of Dhaka-its Evolution and Typology 28-41
3.1 Introduction 29 3.2 History and Evolution of House-Form of Dhaka Region 29 3.2.1 Indigenous Pattern 30 3.2.2 Formal Pattern 30 3.3 Forces influencing the Evolution of House Form of Dhaka Region 31 3.4 Typology of House-Forms of Dhaka Region 32
6
3.4.1 The rural house-form 32 3.4.2 Urban House form 33 3.5 Types of Urban House Form 34 3.5.1 Introverted houses 35 3.5.1.1 Detached Type 35 3.5.1.2 Enclosed Courtyard Type 36 3.5.2 Extrovert houses-Bungalow 36 3.5.2.1 Composite Type 37 3.5.2.2 Consolidated Type 37 3.5.3 Zamindar Houses 38 3.6 Conclusion 39
Chapter-Four: House Form of Panam Nagar 42-66
4.1 Introduction 43 4.2 Settlement Pattern of Panam and Around 43 4.3 Physical Organization 43 4.4 Building Layout 45 4.5 Classification of Buildings on Physical Properties 46 4.5.1 Double Heighted Hall type Building 48 4.5.2 Courtyard type Buildings 52 4.5.3 Consolidated Type 55 4.6 General Discussion of the Building Layouts 63
Chapter Five: Spatial Analysis of the Buildings of Panam 67-98
5.1 Introduction 69 5.2 Syntactic Analysis of the Houses of Panam Nagar 70 5.2.1 Double heighted Hall type Buildings 71 5.2.2 Courtyard type Buildings 77 5.2.3 Consolidated type Building 83 5.3 General analysis of the buildings of Panam Nagar 94 5.4 Classification of buildings on syntactic properties 96 5.6 Conclusion 97 Chapter Six: Comparative Spatial Analysis of the House Form of Dhaka and Panam Nagar
99-116
6.1 Introduction 100 6.2 House Form of Dhaka 100 6.2.1 Case Study-1 101 6.2.2 Case Study-2 103 6.2.3 Case Study-3 104 6.2.4 Case Study-4 106 6.2.5 General syntactic Properties of Introverted Houses 107 6.2.6 Case Study-5 108
7
List of Illustrations Chapter-1 Page No Fig-1.1 Geographical Location of Sonargaon 3 Fig-1.2 Mouza Map(2013)-Panam, Aminpur 9 Fig-1.3 Master Plan of Panam Nagar,identifying Buildings under Study 10 Fig-1.4 Chronological Steps of the Study 11 Fig-1.5 Justified Graph Analysis 13 Fig-1.6 Ringy Graph 13 Fig-1.7 Graph without rings 13 Chapter-2 Fig-2.1 World Trade Map Published in 1650 Ad 17 Fig-2.2 Khashnagar Talao, W, Branden, 1872 18 Fig-2.3 Google Image of Panam, 2007 19 Fig-2.4 Cotton Factory in Panam, W, Branden, 1872. 21 Fig: 2.5 Entry level, Panam street, W, Branden,1872 22 Fig: 2.6 Panam-street in 1872, W, Branden 23 Chapter-3 Fig-3.1 Indigenous Pattern 30 Fig-3.2 Formal Pattern 30 Fig-3.3 Rural House 32 Fig-3.4 Introverted House 35 Fig-3.5 Detached Type House 35 Fig-3.6 Enclosed Courtyard House 36 Fig-3.7 Extroverted Composite Bungalow 37 Fig-3.8 Consolidated Bungalow 38 Fig-3.9 Zamindar Houses 39 Fig-3.10 Settlement Pattern of Shankhari Bazar, a Commercial street of Dhaka 41 Fig-3.11 Settlement Pattern of Tanti Bazar, a Commercial street of Dhaka 41
6.2.7 Case Study-6 109 6.2.8 Syntactic Analysis of Extroverted House 110 6.3 Comparative Analysis of Panam Houses and the House form of Dhaka 112 6.4 Conclusion 115
Chapter Seven: Conclusion 117-125 7.1 Introduction 118 7.2
Panam Nagar and its Context 118 7.3 House Forms 119 7.4 Syntactic Properties & Identification of Types 121 7.5 Conclusion 123
Bibliography 126-127 Annex-1 Space Syntax 128-133
Annex-2 Syntactic Analysis of Buildings 134-136 Annex-3 Drawings 137-138
8
Fig-3.12 Settlement Pattern of Panam Nagar 41 Chapter-4 Fig-4.1 Compound House Plan near Panam Nagar 43 Fig-4.2 Street View of Panam(West) 44 Fig-4.3 Street View of Panam(Middle) 44 Fig-4.4 Street View of Panam(East) 44 Fig-4.5 Conceptual Section of Double Heighted Hall type Building 46 Fig-4.6 Conceptual Section of Courtyard type Building 46 Fig-4.7 Conceptual Section of Consolidated type Building 46 Fig-4.8 Master Plan of Panam Nagar 47 Fig-4.9 View of Double Heighted Hall 48 Fig-4.10 Plan of Building no-9 48 Fig-4.11 Plan of Building no-1 49 Fig-4.12 Double Heighted Hall of Building no-1 49 Fig-4.13 Plan of Building no-39 50 Fig-4.14 Plan of Building no-33 52 Fig-4.15 Plan of Building no-34 52 Fig-4.16 Plan of Building no-3 54 Fig-4.17 Plan of Building no-43 54 Fig-4.18 Street Front view of Building no-3 54 Fig-4.19 Plan of Building no-23 56 Fig-4.20 Plan of Building no-24 56 Fig-4.21 Plan of Building no-25 56 Fig-4.22 Plan of Building no-45 57 Fig-4.23 Plan of Building no-2 57 Fig-4.24 Plan of Building no-27 57 Fig-4.25 Plan of Building no-37 58 Fig-4.26 Plan of Building no-38 58 Fig-4.27 Plan of Building no-41 59 Fig-4.28 Plan of Building no-42 59 Fig-4.29 Plan of Building no-42A 60 Fig-4.30 Plan of Building no-44 60 Fig-4.31 Plan of Building no-4 60 Fig-4.32 Plan of Building no-26 60 Fig-4.33 Plan of Building no-31 61 Fig-4.34 Linear Corridor 62 Fig-4.35 Street Front View of Courtyard Type Buildings of Panam 63 Fig-4.36 View inside the Court 63 Fig-4.37 Zoning of Interior Spaces within Buildings 64 Fig-4.38 Front Room of Consolidated type Building 65 Fig-4.39 Rear View of the Buildings of Panam 65 Fig-4.40 Present View of the Kuthi of East India Company 66 Chapter-5
Fig-5.1 Plan of Building no 1 71 Fig-5.2 Plan of Building no 9 71 Fig-5.3 Justified Graph of Building no-1 71 Fig-5.4 Justified Graph of Building-9 71 Fig-5.5 Justified Graph and Plan of Building-39 73 Fig-5.6 Plan of Building no-33 78 Fig-5.7 Plan of Building no-34 78 Fig-5.8 Justified Graph of Building-33 79 Fig-5.9 Justified Graph of Building-34 79
9
Fig-5.10 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-23 83 Fig-5.11 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-24 83 Fig-5.12 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-25 84 Fig-5.13 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-45 85 Fig-5.14 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-2 87 Fig-5.15 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-27 87 Fig-5.16 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-41 88 Fig-5.17 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-42 89 Fig-5.18 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-42A 89 Fig-5.19 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-4 92 Fig-5.20 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-26 92 Fig-5.21 Plan and Justified Graph of Building-31 92
Chapter-6 Fig-6.1 Plan of 18 Banshi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar 102 Fig-6.2 Justified Graph of 18 Bansi Chandra Lane, Tanti Bazar 102 Fig-6.3 Plan and Justified graph of 27, Kotwali, Tanti Bazar 103 Fig-6.4 Plan of 64 Shankhari Bazar 105 Fig-6.5 Justified Graph of 64 Shankhari Bazar 105 Fig-6.6 Plan and Justified Graph of 10 Bansi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar 106 Fig-6.7 Plan of the House of Debendra Mohan Das 108 Fig-6.8 Plan of the House of Gulzar Ahmed 109 Fig-6.9 Justified Graph of Case Study-5 110 Fig-6.10 Justified Graph of Case Study-6 110 List of Tables Table-5.1: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-1 72 Table-5.2: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-9 74 Table-5.3: Syntactic Analysis of Building no-39 74 Table-5.4: Syntactic Measures of the Double Heighted Central Hall of building no-1, 9 and 39
75
Table-5.5: Syntactic Analysis of Transitional Spaces Around the Hall 76 Table-5.6: Syntactic Measures of the Small Chambers Adjacent to the Hall. 77 Table-5.7: Syntactic Data of Building no-33 80 Table-5.8: Syntactic Data of Building no-34 81 Table-5.9: Syntactic Data of Court in Building no 33 and 34 81 Table-5.10: Syntactic Data of the Transitional Spaces around the Court Yard in Building no 33 and 34.
82
Table-5.11: syntactic Data of Building no 23 84 Table-5.12: syntactic Data of Building no 24 84 Table-5.13: Syntactic Data of Building no-25 85 Table-5.14: Syntactic Data of Building no-45 86 Table-5.15: Syntactic Data of Building no-2 88 Table-5.16: Syntactic Data of Building no-27 90 Table-5.17: Syntactic Data of Building no 41 90 Table-5.18: Syntactic Data of Building no-42 91 Table-6.1: Syntactic Data of Spaces of 18, Bashi Chandra Sen Lane 102 Table-6.2: Syntactic Data of 27, Kotwali, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka 104 Table-6.3: Syntactic Data of 10, Bashi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka. 107 Table-6.4: Syntactic Data of Case Study-5 111 Table-6.5: Syntactic Data of Case Study-6 111
10
Chapter 01
Introduction
11
1.1 Introduction:
Architecture is the visual expression of a people in time and space. The basic factors shaping it
are the local climate and indigenous materials. Another important factor that influences it is the
external forces generally caused by social, political and cultural contacts and interactions. Thus
architecture becomes an archive of the social, political and economical position of the time of its
establishment. Since religion was considered sacred in Bengal, attention was consistently given
to make religious structures more durable. As a result social life of the urban dwellers remained
less attended through architectural evidences until the establishment of Dhaka as the urban
core (Ahmed,1967). In 19th century when Dhaka was established as a prominent urban center,
a small area in Sonargaon named ‘Panam’ has been flourished and came into prominence as
an urban settlement having a series of high quality buildings along a narrow road. But nothing
much can be found in the historical references about this small township and its built forms. This
thesis will therefore focus on the house forms of Panam and try to link it with the social and
architectural background of Dhaka.
1.1.1 Sonargaon in the Context of Bengal:
Sonargaon literally known as “golden village” was originally a village named Suvarnavati or
Suvarnagram probably came into history only in the early years of the fourteenth century when
Shamsuddin Firuz Shah, a governor of the Delhi sultan, declared independence and issued
coins from Sonargaon. It was the capital city during the time of Fakruddin Mubarak Shah within
the years 1338-1353.During the time of the independent sultan Sonargaon was a provincial
metropolis and a port city known for its beautiful cloth called Muslin and as an international
trade centre (Gulshan,1976:14).
As an international trade center Sonargaon sustained more than 2500 years
(Chowdhury,1997:2). It was the capital of Vanga and was always been a very rich metropolis of
Bengal. Being the core of cloth looming, for thousands of years, Bengal took the topmost place
in international trade in this sector and Sonargaon remained the center of all business activities.
With the establishment of the Mughal capital in Dhaka the city have fallen fast into decay. And it
was intensified by the shifting of the river courses which carried away all walls, palaces and
streets.
A part of the city named Panam Nagar came into prominence in the later part of 19th and early
20th century. With the decay of the once flourishing cotton manufactures, for which the tract of
land between the Sitalakhya and the Meghan was famous, fell into oblivion only to be revived by
the emergency of the town Panam, which had been acted as a place of trade by a group of the
Hindu merchants, who must have set up their residence on this historical site
12
(Hussain,1997:24). After the Second World War, the town started to loss its glory. Finally after
the liberation war of 1971 the town became deserted. The place is reputed to have been built
over the remains of an old city. So it can be said that Panam is the only successor of the
glorious Sonargaon.
1.2 Background of Panam:
Sonargaon is now a township about 27 km to the south east of Dhaka. The land is surrounded
by two important rivers Meghna and Sitalakhya. About a half mile from Sonargaon “lokshilpo”
museum to the north are the ruins of Panam. The two cannels surrounding Panam one of which
was artificial proves that it was once a well protected city. Both of the cannels run parallel to the
central street on either side. The habitants here were mostly the Hindu traders.
The existing archeological remains in Panam are not earlier than the British colonial period,
still there is very little that can be known about this settlement from historical references.
Asiatic Society had had initiated a research on Sonargaon and made a publication in 1997,
where Panam was also included in the study. The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (ASB) had
completed partial documentation of these buildings in this publication. But that study was
basically focused on the history of Sonargaon rather on the architectural significance of
Panam as an urban settlement or on its buildings. Moreover that research did not attempt to
explain the spatial layouts in terms of function or zoning. Till now, very little study has been
explored on the existing built forms of Panam Nagar.
1.2.1 Geographical Background:
Situated in the tract of land between the
Brahmaputra and the Sitalakhya which is
well formed and at places has lateritic soil,
Panam remained significant for its
geographical location. The Menikhali, a
small rivulet, after emerging from the
Brahmaputra, runs from Kaikar Tek in a
slightly northeasterly direction, forming the
southern boundary of the Mograpara union,
and joins the Meghna near Baidyer Bazar.
The flow of the Menikhali was utilized to
create the moats and canals of the
Mograpara area around which grew the
Fig-1.1: Geographical location of Sonargaon, Asiatic Society, 1997
13
medieval settlements of a part of Sonargaon along with Panam. Another natural stream
from Manikhali to Brahmaputra passed by the northern periphery of Panam named
‘Pankhiraj khal’ which along with the artificial moats created a natural protection system
around the medieval settlement of Panam.
1.2.2 Historical Background:
Panam had experienced many ups and downs with the flow of time. In 1586, Ralph Flitch
described Panam as “is a town six legues from Serripur, where there is the best and finest
cloth made in all India. But in the references of British travelers it is found that the
production of muslin had been stopped during 19 th century, but the area was still vibrant
with its distinct characteristics and lifestyle. In 1840 AD James Tailor, in his book “A Sketch
of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca” has given a br ief description of Panam. He
mentioned that Panam was the ancient city of Sonargaon which was well protected by
motes and grooves and was almost inaccessible in rainy season. (Tailor,1840:24-25).
During his visit to Sonargaon (Jan 1872), James Wise found the area Goaldi to Mograpara
and adjacent territory in a decaying condition. The manufacture of fine Muslin, for which
Sonargaon was famous, was already extinct except a variety of Malmal. But Panam has
developed into a great trade center of cotton and English piece-goods (Hussain, 1997: 4) at
that time. He also gave an account of the inhabitants and trade in Panam which says that
there was not a single Muhammadan lived in Panam. The householders are chiefly
Taluqhdars who pay Government revenue direct to Dhaka treasury (Hussain,1997:4).
From different historical references it is clearly found that, Panam remained a worth
mentioning part of the history of Sonargaon. Until 16th century Panam was famous for the
finest cloth Muslin and after a long period of decay and dilapidated condition it regained its
glory with the establishment of trade by the Hindu merchants in mid 19th century.
1.2.3 Architectural Background:
The unique settlement of Panam draws attention of the researchers. Panam was an
exceptional case of mature township in a non-urban setting. Hindu merchants who resided in
Panam built closely located street front houses in mid 19th century and Panam continued to
flourish till the 2nd world war (Hussain, 1997: 41).
Physical organization as indicated in the C.S. Map of Mouza Panam revealed an elongated plot
division with narrow street frontage. This type of ‘bargage plots’ were common in many trading
towns ensuring a commercial interface to a large number of merchants within a limited area.
However, little is known about the buildings in Panam. As a result, their compactness remains
14
unexplained without any evidence of their use pattern. It is found from historical references that,
here in Panam, there were a large number of buildings containing 90 families. These buildings
are single to three storied high, organized on both side of a six hundred meter long and six
meter narrow street (Hussain,1997:113). Such a large assemble of buildings of that time exists
nowhere in Dhaka region. The cartographic survey shows that, among them only fifty two
buildings remain in a very dilapidated condition at present.
It is the most prominent early example of Street Front Houses in a non-urban setting
(Hussain,1997:113). The road extends from west to east, slightly turns towards north-east
after it is half-way through. The road moves with delicate curves that offer changing vistas
of the street facade. Majority of the houses are two storied. Large houses are partially three
storied. In its present state of disuse and dilapidation, one can still feel the vibrant life of
Panam in its hay days. Each house was presenting a facade to Panam street in order to
enrich the visual symphony of the ensemble, where each building keeping its own identity
blended with the harmonious whole. Different type of spatial organization is seen in different
houses. These houses also vary in size and shape. Larger buildings have courtyard or
double heighted hall in their center and the smaller ones excluded these spaces. Rather
they have a large backyard which had been shared by adjacent two or three buildings. The
extensive use of various materials in ornamentation of street front façade and double
heighted hall is a significant character of Panam. Besides the extensively decorated double
heighted hall is a very unique architectural element of these buildings.
Therefore, it can be said that, the houses of Panam assembled a large number of unique
architectural element and a diversified spatial organization which is needed to be analyzed
extensively.
1.3 Problem Statement:
The diversity in architectural elements made Panam a laboratory for the researchers to
study in any branch of Architecture. Besides their richness in ornamentation, the spatial
organization of these buildings draws attention of the researchers to unveil their origin and use.
The uniformly developed buildings, the homogeneous facade treatment, the different type of
spatial distribution of buildings inspire the researchers to explain their organizational
pattern.
The Department of Archeology has evacuated and sealed the land in year 2007 and took step
to preserve Panam Nagar. In the first phase of conservation, they had started documentation of
these houses. This organization has started making detailed drawings of some of these
buildings as a part of this documentation but still the process is incomplete. The Asiatic Society
15
of Bangladesh had also initiated a research and completed partial documentation of these
buildings in one of their publications. But the research did not attempt to explain the spatial
layout in terms of functional zoning.
From the previous studies very few are known about the spatial organization of these house
forms of Panam. Asiatic Society has identified three types of buildings in Panam. But it is still
unknown what were the functions of the indoor spaces, what were the reasons behind these
kinds of compact buildings in such a remote area. Why there are so many types of buildings in
such a small and bounded area. There is still much to know about the people who lived there,
their social life, the purpose of the buildings, how these buildings served the inhabitants and the
visitors as well. It remains unknown, how similar are they to other types of house form
that had evolved in Dhaka at the same time period, what were their genotypes and
origin? It is, therefore, important to understand the architectural morphology and to find out the
origin of these buildings. As Architecture is basically represented through the articulation and
organization of spaces within the buildings, this thesis, therefore, will focus on the spatial
organization of the buildings of Panam.
1.3.1 Research Question:
On the basis of above discussed problems, two research questions are developed here.
They are:
1. How the spaces were organized and linked with one another in these house forms?
2. How they are similar or dissimilar to the prevailing house forms of that time in
Dhaka?
These questions try to unveil the social and spatial dimensions of the house forms of
Panam with an intention to understand the use pattern and will help to find the genotypes of
these house forms.
1.3.2 Objective of the Research:
Therefore the objectives of this research are
1. To explain the organizational pattern of different types of houses of Panam Nagar in spatial as well as functional terms.
2. To identify the genotypes of this collection of buildings by putting them in the broader range of residential buildings of Dhaka region.
16
1.4 Rational of the Study:
The area of Panam which is under the present study is a very mature urban settlement in a
non-urban background with large assembles of different types of houses on both sides of a
central linear street and protected by cannels all around. In different historical evidences, it
is found that it played an important role in the economy and trade of Sonargaon and
eventually Bengal. Hence it is very clear that Panam is an ancient settlement that holds a
significant place in the history of Sonargaon. Still very little is known about the social and
architectural background of Panam from these historical references. Though it is found in
the literature review that Panam was the abode of Hindu Zamindars (Hussain, 1997:vii), the
organization of spaces within the building that prevail in Panam doesn’t complement this
comment apparently. The buildings are very small and compact in size in comparison to the
residential houses of Zamindars (Reza, 2003). The logic behind the difference in layout
pattern among the buildings of Panam is still undiscovered which generates curiosity
among the researchers to know more about these houses. Again, such a large assemble of
secular buildings of different types with minimum transformation from the period of its
construction, is found nowhere in Bangladesh. The house by house analysis would help to
find out unknown spatial characteristics of the secular buildings of Dhaka. The building to
building difference in spatial organization in spite of the harmonious elevation treatment
raises much inquisitiveness among the researchers. The proper and extensive study of
these buildings will surely enhance the resources in the field of architectural study
especially in the ground of secular architecture of Dhaka region.
In the field of conservation this area is similarly important as other parts those posses the
sultanate monuments. From this point of view too, there is ample scope of study on this
particular area in every angles of social, political, economical and architectural point of
view. Therefore the morphological study would have been an opening to a new window
which has a hand full of treasures behind it.
1.5 Limitations:
In the prevailing literatures on Panam, no description is found regarding the functioning that
took place within the buildings of Panam. Many buildings of Panam are in very dilapidated
conditions now days. The floors and walls of the buildings are severely damaged which can
cause life hazard as well. For this reason and to protect these buildings from further
damage by curious people, the department of archeology has been sealed almost all the
17
buildings. So these buildings are completely inaccessible for physical survey. As a result
many data could not be verified and many plans cannot be developed.
More over there is not a single family in or around Panam who has minimum connectivity
with the original owners or the inhabitants of these buildings. The available literature
sources also have very brief description of the social background of th is area which is not
sufficient enough to support the building to building analysis.
1.6 Methodology:
This particular study will be conducted thorough literature review, physical and cartographic
survey as well as syntactic analysis. The first part of this research looks at the historical
significance of the study area, the socio-economic structure of Panam as well as Dhaka as a
revelation of the context for the present problem. It mainly deals with the available cartographic
maps and the background history of Dhaka and Sonargaon-Panam along with the economy and
trade history of Bengal. The physical layout of the houses has been studied from different
cartographic references. The area under Panam Nagar, specially the main street has been
surveyed to understand the setup of the buildings under consideration. This part also deals with
the evolution of house forms of Dhaka through different literature review and the study of the
spatial layout of the prevailing type of house forms of Dhaka till 19th century. The second part of
the research will analyze the spatial organization of different house forms of Panam and Dhaka
and brought them under comparison to find out the genotypes of the houses of Panam. (Fig-
1.2)
1.6.1 Literature Survey:
Available relevant literature based on published articles, books, web sites, atlas and drawings in
national archive, Department of Archeology, Public Works Department(PWD), Capital
Development Authority(RAJUK), Dhaka City Corporation, Upozilla land office, Sonargaon and
other unpublished records and documents which provides the primary plan for designing the
fieldwork and the method of data collection and documentation has been studied. As the
proposed site has a glorious history, the historical background of this region was needed to
study. Therefore, the published books and journals were collected and studied from different
relevant sources such as, Asiatic society of Bangladesh, Department of History, Dhaka
University, the national museum and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
(BUET) to understand the historical background, architectural and social structure of Bengal
especially the Dhaka region along with Panam Nagar and to study the buildings of Panam
Nagar.
18
Development of objectives
STEP-01
- Study the Socio-Economic Background of Sonargaon and Panam to find out the social interpretation of the architecture.
- To understand the typology and layout pattern of the Houses of Panam Nagar.
-To identify the indicators of morphological Characters of the buildings of Panam and find out the genotypes among the house forms of Dhaka.
Research Question -1
How the spaces were organized and linked with one another in these house forms? Field (Reconnaissance & physical) Survey, Cartographic maps and records study
STEP-02
To find out the spatial logic of different typologies of Buildings of Panam. Their similarity and dissimilarity in spatial organization, spatial relationship and social interpretation of the particular pattern of spatial organization.
STEP-03
To study the morphological evolution of the House form of Dhaka in terms of functional aspects such as land use, distribution of functions, type of buildings, pattern of ownership and physical aspects such as street pattern, plot, vertical extension, building footprint and open spaces, spatial organization of houses, access, circulation, interface etc. and compare them with the houses of Panam.
Research Question 2
How they are similar or dissimilar to the prevailing house forms of that time in Dhaka?
STEP-04
Analysis and synthesis of the data.
Findings and Conclusion
Bui
ldin
gs o
f Pan
am N
agar
H
ouse
For
m o
f Dha
ka
Lite
ratu
re re
view
Fig-1.2: Steps of the Study
19
1.6.2 Study of Cartographic Maps and Archeological Documentations: Cartographic maps of Panam and the surrounding area has been collected from different
government sources such as, the C.S and R.S map from Union Porishod Office, Sonargaon
(Fig-1.3) and Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society and Department of Archeology both
prepared a master plan identifying the buildings of Panam. This research will follow the master
plan prepared by the department of Archeology in 2007 and their identification number for the
buildings (Fig-1.4).
Fig-1.3: Mouza map of Panam-Aminpur, Source: Upozila Porishod, Sonargaon,
2012
20
Fig-1.4 map
21
1.6.3 Field Survey and Selection of Case Study:
The area under Panam Nagar, specially the Panam Street has been surveyed to understand
the setup of the buildings under consideration. There are now forty eight buildings exist in
Panam Nagar. Hence, a base map was updated from maps prepared by the department of
Archeology identifying buildings under study and their surroundings. The buildings in this map
have been numbered according to the numbers given in the map prepared by the Department
of Archeology, Bangladesh (Fig-1.4).
The department of Archeology had prepared the architectural drawings of twenty six buildings,
among which only eighteen buildings have complete plan. Two plans have been collected from
the unpublished B.Arch thesis of Khulna University in 2006, ‘Revitalization of Panam Nagar’ by
Pushpita Eshika and one partially drawn plan had been completed by physical survey as that
particular building was still accessable(Fig-1.4).The single roomed buildings have been
deducted from the present study. Therefore, this thesis will conduct physical analisis of twenty
two buildings which incorporates one building that has only ground floor plan as this building
has a double heighted hall in the middle of the configuration and is one of the largest buildings
of Panam. But the syntactic analysis will be conducted upon only those buildings which have
complete plans of all the floors to make the analysis more aqurate. As there is no evidence of
the services in the plans of Bangladesh Archeology Department and other unpublished sources,
a physical survey has been done for the sake of this study.
1.6.4 Syntactic Analysis:
The study has been conducted in two steps by using space syntax method (annex-1) to
understand the spatial organization of the buildings of Panam and to find out the genotypes of
these houses. They are-
i. The study of the spatial organization of the house forms of Panam Nagar.
ii. A comparative study of the spatial characteristics of the house forms of Panam and
different types of prevailing house forms of Dhaka at that time.
To find out the pattern of spaces, their organization and interrelation of spaces to each other, an
analysis of house plans will be undertaken with the use of Space Syntax method.
Space Syntax is a method for describing and analyzing the relationships between spaces of
buildings. Space Syntax is a research program that was developed by a team led by Professor
Bill Hillier in the unit of Architectural Studies in University College London (Hillier, 1996; Hillier,
1984). Since then, it has grown into an independent research area with an increasing
international community. Primarily, Space Syntax is a method of investigating spatial complexes
22
in an attempt to identify its particular structure that resides at the level of the entire
configuration. The method is based upon the theory that the form-function relation in buildings
and cities passes through the structural properties of its configuration (Hillier, 1998).
A method of Space Syntax named ‘Justified Graph’ analysis (Fig-1.5) has been used as
the simulation program to find out the
interrelation between spaces of the selected
samples. The invention of justified graph is
more than a simple illustrative tool to clarify
space configuration in buildings. So far
‘space syntax’ theory is concerned, the
configurational variables ‘depth’ and ‘rings’
(annex-1) turn out to be fundamental
properties of architectural space configurations and also the means by which architecture can
carry culture.
Justified graph is restructured so that a specific space is placed at the bottom, “the root space”.
All spaces one syntactic step away from root space are put on the first level above, all spaces
two steps away on the second level, etc. Depth (annex-1) between two spaces is defined as the
least number of syntactic steps in a graph. Justified graphs offer a visual picture of the overall
depth of a lay-out seen from one of its points.
Every space is identified in this graph as a node and the line connected these spaces are
known as edges. Through this simulation software the relationships between spaces become
clearer.
Different variables are use in this process to understand the morphological character of a
building. They are control, connectivity, depth, integration, number of rings (Fig-1.6 & 1.7),
space-link ratio etc (annex-1). Rings add extra permeability up to a theoretical maximum where
ever space is connected to every other. This enables us to begin to measure the degree of
Fig-1.6: Ringy Graph Fig-1.7: Graph without rings
Fig-1.5: Justified Graph Analysis
23
depth and relative ringiness of a complex, to capture in numbers the kinds of difference we find
in architectural objects (Hanson, 1998:27).
In this present study, the frontal entrance (outdoor) in Panam Street has been taken as the root
space in all cases. By measuring depth, integration value, control value and ringiness, this
thesis will try to understand the spatial hierarchy and the reason behind the spatial organization
of these buildings. This thesis also tries to find out the genotypes1 of these buildings by using
these measurements while comparing these buildings to the prevailing types of residential
house forms of Dhaka at that time.
1.7 Structure of the Thesis:
The entire research is compiled in this thesis within six chapters. The initial chapter defines the
problem and set out the argument to examine the spatial layout of Panam for an explication of
morphological order of spaces within these houses and thus search for their genotypes. This
chapter also selects the methodology for directing the present research towards the ultimate
objective that has been set for this research.
The second chapter reviews the socio, political and historical background of Panam along with
the topographical study. Thus this chapter justifies the reason for this study.
The third chapter describes the evolution of house forms of Dhaka till 19th century, their
character and typology. The socio-economic reasoning for the evolution of these house forms.
This chapter also extracts key issues which need to be considered for the present purpose.
After establishment of the theoretical argument, the fourth chapter will study the architectural
ambivalence of Panam Nagar, its settlement pattern, the types of house forms and their
physical layout by analyzing the gathered drawings prepared by different source and physical
survey. A descriptive study has been done for selected house forms of Panam and
characterized thereby. The spatial analysis with the help of Space Syntax will be done in
chapter five to find out the morphological characteristics of the house forms of Panam.
And finally chapter six will include ‘Space Syntax’ as a tool to analyze the morphological
structure of the houses of Dhaka as well as the houses of Panam. Therefore this chapter will
made a comparison between the syntactic properties of the house forms of Panam and the
prevailing house forms of Dhaka till the colonial period.
1 The genotype is the generic makeup of a building or an individual space usually with reference to a specific characteristic under consideration.
24
Thus through a systematic unfolding of social as well as the spatial structure of the house forms
of Panam Nagar, this thesis will try to find out the generic characteristics of the house forms of
Panam Nagar. It will examine the spatial structure of discreet spaces as perceived by different
literature review, the social life and behavioral pattern of the inhabitants of these house forms.
In this way this research will develop the understanding how the spaces within these houses are
connected to each other and to the exterior. And whether there is seemingly any relation
between the social structures with the spatial configuration of these buildings. Hence the social
and spatial characteristics of these houses are investigated here to reveal the morphological
order of these houses. Finally, attempts will be made to explain the social environment of
Panam Nagar through the organization of spaces of these house forms of Panam and this
thesis will also try to find out where these buildings of Panam suit among the house forms of
Dhaka region. It is believed that, this study would create such understanding that will give a new
dimension to the study of secular architecture of Dhaka in historic context. Thus this study may
open a new window in the field of historical research especially in the field of architectural
conservation.
25
Chapter 02
Context
26
2.1 Introduction: Historically the land of Bengal2 has its own distinct ‘regional identity’ since the antiquity. The
geographers also consider Bengal as a definite geographical region in the entire subcontinent.
This entire geographical situation, especially the geographical location of Bengal has played the
foremost significant role in the construction of the distinct identity if Bengal as such: the distinct
socio-cultural efflorescence, its tradition and continuity, diverse religious life, art and
architectural individuality, the vibrant trade and commerce, economic prosperity, and above all,
formation of Bengal’s regional personality (Chowdhury, et al.1982:148-160; Dani, 1997).
Sonargaon remained as a crown jewel in these kingdoms of glory of Bengal. Panam, situated in
deep core of Sonargaon, made itself more significant historically as well as architecturally.
2.2.1 Historical Location of Sonargaon in the Context of Bengal: The three geo-political units of Bengal, Vanga, Samatata and Harikela, may well be grouped
under a single greater territorial unit with the common name of Vanga corresponding roughly to
the southeastern Bengal. In thirteen century, the modern state of Bengal was split up into a
number of divisions and chiefdoms. Hence, ‘Vanga’ denoted south east Bengal, which included
Sonargaon, Vikrampur, Sylhet and Chittagong. It was sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah (1342-
1357) who united the territories of Lakhnauti, Satgaon (Southwest Bengal) and Sonargaon
(Southeast Bengal) and laid the foundation of the independent Sultanate of Bengal in 1352
(Mohsin et al, 2007:xxvi).
According to the world map "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" vol. II (Fig.-2.1) published in 1650 AD
from Amsterdam, (Blockmann, 1968) Sonargaon was a port city by the Bay of Bengal. Ibn
Batuta described, "It was a very important port city where merchant-mariners of China and Java
came with their merchant ships for trade" (Abdullah, 1978:78). Sonargaon, the medieval capital
of eastern Bengal is currently the name of an administrative Upazilla in the district of
Narayanganj. It is situated about 21 km south-east of Dhaka city and about 5 km west of
Narayanganj town. The geographical situation of the Upazilla Sonargaon at the junction of the
river Meghna and Brahmaputra made it one of the most flourishing centers of trade and
commerce.
2.2.2 Sonargaon in the History of Bengal: Sonargaon came into prominence as an administrative center in the early medieval period,
when Vikrampur, the ancient capital of Vanga, lost its importance. With the establishment of
Muslim rule in this area in the closing years of the 13th century Sonargaon came to occupy the
2 The term Bengal denoted here implies the pre-1947 province of Bengal in British India.
27
position of the capital of the territory of Bengal and a mint town. It continued to enjoy this
prominence, with various vicissitudes, till the occupation of this area by the Mughal in the early
part of the 17th century, whence the capital was shifted to Dhaka. Though shorn off the prestige
of a capital, Sonargaon continued its prominence till the end of the 18th century
(Hussain,1997:1).
Sonargaon remained a significant part of the history of Bengal from 13rd century and an
international trade center for centuries (Husain,1997:1). Sonargaon was described by numerous
historic travelers, including Ibn Battuta, Ma Huan, Niccolò de' Conti and Ralph Fitch, as a
thriving center of trade and commerce on the silk route (Hussain,1997:8-13). By the 14th
century Sonargaon became a commercial port. Trade activities were mentioned by travelers like
Ibn Batuta, Ma Huan and Ralph Fitch. Maritime ships travelled between Sonargaon and
southeast/west Asian countries (Khan, 2009). Finest cotton Muslin was produced in this region.
Ralph Fitch, who visited Sonargaon under Isa Khan in 1586, mentioned about the finest cloth of
this place along with other export goods. He mentions, 'Great store of cotton cloth goeth from
hence, and much rice, wherewith they serve all India, Ceilon, Pegu, Malacca, Sumatra and
many other places' (Hussain,1997:9) By Abul Fazl in 1582 it is celebrated for the manufacture
of beautiful cloth. So it is clear from the descriptions of every historian that, Sonargaon was
Fig-2.1: Sonargaon in World Trade map published in 1650 Ad Source: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh,1997.
28
once a very prosperous business center and its chief trade item was various kinds of fine cotton
fabric especially Muslin. Remains of the Muslim period are strewn over a vast area, a part of
which grew the existing remains of the Colonial period. The extant sites of archaeological
interest in and around Sonargaon may, for the sake convenience, be divided into three
groups on the basis of their location. They are, ‘Nothern Group’, ‘Southern Group’ and
‘Bandar Group’. Panam is situated in the northern group, which has much evidence of
having muslin industry in that area including a large pond in the close vincity of Panam,
named Khashnagar Dighi. The Khashnagar Dighi (Fig-2.2), a very large tank (365 x
182.5m), is traditionally known to be favorite to the Muslin weavers, as its wate r made their
Muslins remarkably white
(Hussain,1996:16).
The Khashnagar area was earlier
known as Keorsundar, same as
Katare Sundar of Sonargaon
mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari, where
the special quality of the water of this
tank for making muslin remarkably
white is also mentioned. So it is
evident that, there are a group of
muslin-workers of Sonargaon who
must have had their habitation Near
Panam Nagar.
With the establishment of the cotton mills by East India Company, this flourishing trade
finally came to a decay in the middle of 19th century (Awal,2004:1). With the decay of the
once flourishing cotton manufactures, for which the tract of land between the Sitalakhya and the
Meghna was famous, Sonargaon fell into oblivion only to be revived by the emergence of the
town of Panam, an abode of the Hindu merchants, who must have settled on an older site
sometime in the 19th century and into the 20th century and conducted different kinds of
business from here (Husain, 1997:24).
2.3 Panam- In the Context of Sonargaon: Sonargaon attracted the attention of the English officials of Bengal from the middle of the 19th
century (Hussain, 1997:9) when Panam a part of this decaying urban area came into
prominence. Dr. B. Hamilton, who visited this part of the country round about 1820, writes, 'This
is reputed to have been once a large city, the provincial capital of the eastern division of Bengal,
Fig-2.2: Khashnagar Talao, W, Branden, 1872. Source: Archeological Survey of India Collection
Source:
29
before Dacca was in existence, but it is now dwindled down to a village situated on one of the
branches of the Brahmaputra, about 13 miles southeast from Dacca, lat 23° 39' N., long 90° 43'
E’ (Hussain, 1997: 9-10). Other historians who visited this place in 19th century also described
similarly about this place.
Panam was a prosperous village of Sonargaon. In different historical evidences, it is found
that it played an important role in the economy and trade of Sonargaon and eventually
Bengal. Very little is known about the history of Panam Nagar from the texts. James Taylor
(1840 A.D.) describes Panam as an ancient city of Sonargaon. He found the area
inaccessible except by small boats and by elephant or horseback. The area was hidden
within dense foliage of tropical vegetations.
James Tailor, in his book “A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca” gave a brief
description of Panam. He mentioned that, Sonargaon was a purganah of considerable size
between Luckia and Meghna, in the northern division of Dhaka. Its agricultural products are
rice, cotton, turmeric ginger, betel-nuts and betel for which it is celebrated. The principle villages
are Panam, Nagulbandh (Langalbandh), Baroodi, kadua abd Morapara. According to James
Tailors inscription, the Havillee Sonargaon of the early Muhammedan rulars was in this part of
the area, though there is not much tress of the pre-British colonial buildings or monuments in
Panam. Panam is situated about two miles inland from the Brahmaputra creek, in a groove of
areca, tamarind, mango and various other trees interspersed with dense thickest of bamboos
which completely conceal the village from view until within a few yard of it. This sequestered
spot is approached in the dry season by narrow winding footpaths, but in rainy season it is
partially inundated, and is almost inaccessible except by small boats or to a person on elephant
Fig-2.3: Google image of Panam, 2007
,Nagar,2007 2014
30
or horse. It consists of two narrow rows of straw huts and good brick built houses of two and
three stories in height. Surrounding it there is a deep, muddy and stagnant cannel, which
appears originally to be a moat for protection. Upon an old bridge across this mote there were a
gateway which remained closed at night and no person was allowed to enter or exit until the
following morning (Tailor, 1880:79-82).
2.4 Commercial Interface of Panam Nagar-Sonargaon in the Context of Bengal: From ancient time, there was an intense trade and consequent religious and cultural
intercourses and exchange between Bengal and other regions of the subcontinent and the outer
world, especially central Asia, south East Asia and China. Different historians gave description
of the historical trade routes connecting different part of Bengal (Alam, 2007:15). A
comprehensive description of communication routes between Bengal and beyond is found in
history (Roy, 1993:153-159), where the existence of Sonargaon is found.
Bengal’s external trade and commerce flourished tremendously in the reign of Muslims.
Merchants from all over the known world flocked to the coastal and inland ports to buy cotton
and silk fabric of various kinds, rice, sugar, salt, spices, oil, pearls, ivory, alloy-wood and other
exotic merchandise with gold and silver bullions in this period (Mohsin, Ahmed,2007:406). With
the increasing power of the British Indian company, the well established commerce and trading
of Bengali merchants gradually started to fall into decay. All the businesses were seized by the
company. Their principal exports were cloths, indigo, betel nut, safflower, pat, soap, skins, shell
bracelets, jewellery, copper utensils, cheese and preserved fruits. The former consists chiefly of
flowered muslins, which were sent to different parts of the country, and of khasseidas or
embroidered cloths, which were exported exclusively to Middle East from where they were
exported to Egypt and turkey. Their import comprised of mustard and til seeds, sugar, lime,
timber, cotton, ivory, pepper, arsenic, wax, gold and silver, moogah or tussar silk etc. from
various parts of Bengal and subcontinent. Dhaka and Narayanganj were the mart for the
products of the surrounding districts (Mohsin, Ahmed, 2007:406-409).
Cotton textile of every sort-fine, superfine and coarse-were once manufactured in
abundance in the province of Bengal. The product of looms not only fully met the internal
demand of her population and also exported to distant lands where it was held in high
esteem. Among the manufacturers, Sonargaon was in the most prestigious position of
manufacturing and exporting finest quality cotton fabrics and Muslin throughout the world.
With the establishment of mills by East India Company, this flourishing trade finally came to
decay in the middle of 19th century (Awal, 2004:1).
31
Fig-2.4: Cotton Factory in Panam, W, Branden, 1872. Source: Archeological Survey of India Collection
Sonargaon remained an international trade center for hundreds of years. Besides cotton
there were extensive trade of rice, turmeric, betel, coconut and various types of spices. The
shifting of the capital to Dhaka made Sonargaon lost its importance as an administrative
center. Sonargaon started losing its trade with the growing power of East-India Company
over Indian Sub-Continent. Their over-powering aggressive trade policy made once
flourishing muslin industry fall
into decay. Still there were
obviously some business
interest remained in Sonargaon
especially in the northern group
(consisting Panam Nagar) of
Sonargaon which was proven as
the abode of the muslin weavers
in earlier period. The presence
of a ‘Kuthi-Bari’ beside
‘Pankhiraj khal’ is the evidence
of the fact (Fig-2.4).
From historical references it is
found that, the inhabitants of the
settlement of Panam were
traders and merchants (Hussain,1997, Jamal, 2007, Kabir et al, 2006 etc.); so it is assumed
that the development pattern of such a settlement should be influenced by commercial
activities. There are forty eight houses in Panam organized on both side of a linear street at
present. But historical reference gives the account of ninety houses all of which were owned
by Hindu merchants (Hussain,1997:47) The area was densely built with single to three
storied buildings with extensive openings towards the street. This kind of settlement patter n
is a very common feature in trading towns to ensure a commercial interface to a large
number of merchants in a limited extent. Dr. J. Wise (Jan, 1872) gives an account of the
trade in Panam which says, 'A great trade in cotton, chiefly English piece goods is carried
out. The majority of the residents are prosperous merchants who make extensive
purchases in Calcutta & Dhaka, which are disposed of in the villages around. At Panam
they made extensive trade in cotton fabrics and English piece goods’. He also speaks of a
variety of pan, known as Kafuri, and a special variety of Mung-dal to be the esteemed
products of the area. The manufacture of fine Muslin, for which Sonargaon was famous,
32
Fig- 2.5: Entry level, Panam Street, W, Branden,1872 Source- Archeological Survey of India Collection
was already extinct except a variety of Malmal. But Panam has developed into a great trade
center of English piece-goods' (Husain,1997:17).
In all probability Panam grew as a by-product of the commercial activities of the English
East India Company and the Permanent Settlement. The existence of two Mughal bridges
at this place and lakes enclosing it on the three sides perhaps indicate that it was a
suburban area of the medieval city. The archeological survey of India refers that, Panam
was a centre of trade in cotton fabrics carried out by the East India Company
(Hussain,1996:24). Again, it can also be said that, the geographical location of Panam, gave it
every possibility of being a medieval village which got the ‘English Kuthi’ nearby and intelligently
explored the European businessmen by being their middleman in the local market and gradually
made wealth and purchased Zamindaris like other ‘benias’ in the large cities in India. But as
there is no evidence, it is only a conjecture about the inhabitants of Panam Nagar.
2.5 Population and Social Structure of Panam Nagar: The architectural development of Panam Nagar was confined in Hindu settlements. In
Sonargaon, Hindu community always lives alongside maintaining a Socio-Religious border
dividing the Hindu and Muslim settlement (Wise, 1872). Panam is in the eastern part of
northern group which was populated by Hindu majority. The settlement pattern and building
layout of Panam thus regulated by the respective socio-religious rules of spatial
organization. For example, all the ponds of Panam are north-south elongated, which is a
common feature of Hindu settlement (Hussain,1997:104).
Panam Nagar was such a
Hindu settlement that there
was not a single Muhammadan
found. Dr. James Wise gave an
account of the inhabitants of
Panam Nagar in 1872 in his
book. He described that, the
householders are chiefly Hindu
Taluqhdars who pay
Government revenue direct to
Dhaka treasury. But the
majority of the people were
traders and money-changers”
(Hussain,1997:41). There are
33
Fig: 2.6 Panam-Street in 1872, W, Branden Source-Archeological Survey of India Collection
ninety of them in Panam. There is also a superfluity of Brahmans. In Panam the caste are
as follows: thirty houses of Brahmans; sixty five of Sahas, five Bhuimalis and the remainder
of Barbers and etc. (Hussain,1997:35).
James Wise in his excellent Notes on
Sunargaon, published in 1874 after a visit
to the area, also records his impression
about Sonargaon along with a survey of the
extant buildings and a sketch of the history
of Sonargaon. During his visit to Sonargaon,
which he calls 'jungle of Sunargong', he
found the area (Panam-Goaldi to Mograpara
and adjacent territory) 'covered by dense
vegetation, and the people poor, diseased
and emaciated, and the swamps and pools
abode of largest alligators’. Tailor mentioned
about the people of Panam that, many of the
people were very rich. They lived on rice, milk
and fruits (Hussain, 1997:8). This indicates
that the inhabitants were simple living people.
From Ralph Flitch’s description it is found that,
in 16th century Panam was a prosperous
village of Sonargaon. Most of the people were rich. Again, comparing the accounts given by
Taylor and J. Wise at a difference of 32 years, it is evident that the years after 1840 was a
period of decline and the years following 1872 was a period of reincarnation for Panam. This
reincarnation, in all probability, was due to the East India Company’s activities in that area of
Sonargaon. Therefore it is clear that the inhabitants of Panam were not the decedents of the
muslin wavers, rather a different class of people who selected the trace of land for some other
profitable purpose in between early 19th to early 20th century (Hussain,1997:17) which was
related to the East India Company as well as this specific locality.
2.6 Physical Layout and Settlement Pattern of Panam Nagar: Panam Nagar appears to be well protected by artificial canals all around (Hussain,1997:17).
Two fairly wide canals run parallel to the street on its either side, joined by a small canal on
the western side, over which is the entrance bridge. On the eastern side the canal on the
south swerves rightward and goes eastward crossing the north-south road that passes
34
through the Panam Bazar. The northern canal, which is designated as the Pankhiraj Khal,
derives its water supply from the river of the same name, which originates from the
Brahmaputra, runs eastward to meet the Meghna- Menikhali stream. The PanamDulalpur
Bridge is actually on this river stream (Hussain,1997:17). The well planned canal enclosure
for the Panam Nagar clearly shows that they served the dual purpose of protection and
sanitation. It can very well be surmised that this well-planned water system around Panam
Nagar must have grown under a well organized government. The present buildings of
Panam Nagar can at best be dated back to the late 18th or early 19th century
(Hussain,1997:17). So it is very likely that the colonial period structures grew up on the site
of an earlier occupied site of the Muslim period. Only archaeological excavations in the area
can either prove or disprove this hypothesis.
Surviving buildings of Panam show a significant shift in architectural concept, character and
building typology preceding period. Buildings were secular in nature as opposed to the
religious structures that characterize the architecture of the pre-colonial period of Bengal.
Architecture entered into a private realm that prompted individuality based on certain
shared values. Buildings increased in volume and complexity. Uniformity of building craft,
material and structure generated a harmonious pattern of development. The decorative
treatments were transported from European architecture and blended places with local
motifs (Hussain, 1997:103).
Though Sonargaon was the capital of Bengal in Musilm rules between 1296 and 1608 and
developed as a center of Islamic culture since the later part of 13 th century, Muslim
dominance declined before 19th century (Hussain,1997:41). The area was stagnated for a
considerable period. So it is obvious, the secular buildings of Panam Nagar were not the
continuation of the predominated architectural form of earlier phase of development. Rather
it was a unique development in this historic piece of land, which enhances the historical
value of Sonargaon. Historical evidences says that, the highly ornamented, apparently
residential buildings of Panam represents a phase of economic affluence in colonial period
that flourished between early 19th to early 20th century(Hussain,1997:17) and continue to
flourish till the end of second world war (Hussain,1997:41).
The establishment fall into decay after the partition of India in 1947 and finally in the time of
liberation war of Bangladesh, the last remained inhabitants of Panam abandoned the place.
Very few are known about the social life of the inhabitants of Panam from the literature review
and field survey. But it is certain; the area was much vibrant in the time of colonial rule. The
highly dense buildings with frontage towards the road explain the value of the land and the
importance of the central road to the inhabitants of Panam. This kind of settlement is seen in the
35
commercial part of Dhaka city where the traders and artisans lived. Moreover, the indication of
commercial activities in the literature survey refers Panam to a rich commercial zone of
Sonargaon.
Panam had a very cohesive society participating in similar religion and cast which is evident in
shared use of backyard, pond and other social facilities. Most of the houses having a street side
veranda on ground and upper level illustrate a very close relationship to the street life with the
buildings (Kabir, et al, 2010).
A ‘Pancha Ratna’ Shiva temple in the middle part of Panam Street was mentioned in Tailor’s
description which has been completely demolished except the base of a building at that part.
But there are several single roomed building are seen in this part of the city which indicates that
the temple was a significant part of the city and probably those single roomed buildings served
the religious purpose as the place locally known as ‘Thakur Bari’ which means the abode of the
God. This temple complex divided Panam in two distinct parts. The comparatively larger but
closely built buildings mostly two to three storied were situated in the eastern part of the temple
and the smaller buildings mostly single storied were situated in the western part of the temple
complex. It indicates to the social segregation of the inhabitants of Panam as well as the
commercial value of the eastern part of the city. So from the field survey, it can be easily said
that, the rich and upper class people occupied the eastern part of the Panam city and the
temple complex served a connection or buffer between the social classes. The placement of the
temple complex in the center of the city and its adjacent facilities and open spaces indicates
that it was probably the place where the public activities were held in Panam.
From field survey and literature survey, it is seen that, most of the adjacent buildings shared the
backyard facilities and the water bodies. The existence of four ponds which are not enclosed in
any building compound shows that those were used commonly which is another evidence of the
sharing neighborhood (Kabir et al, 2010). The pond behind the Shiva temple was connected to
the mote of the southern part of Panam. There were three Ghats with flight of stairs are seen in
all three sides of the pond except the southern side. The connection with the cannel indicates
that, these Ghats probably used for transportation purpose. (kabir et al, 2010).
2.7 Conclusion: Panam Nagar is a very uncommon example as an urban settlement in a non-urban area
in the context of Dhaka region. The urban settlement of Dhaka had grown organically
regulated by the increasing trade and commerce and the administrative demand. From
different literature, it is found that social and economic status of Panam partially spread
around a large span of time till the end of the colonial period. The settlement pattern was
36
unique in many ways in Panam Nagar. Nevertheless the social behavior and the reason
behind the establishment of such an urban settlement in this remote area, at a very
close distance of Dhaka remained still unexplained.
Again, Dhaka had been developed as the regional center of administration and trade
from pre-colonial to colonial period. Hence, there is a possibility that the house forms of
Panam might have some similarity with the house forms of Dhaka of Pre colonial and
colonial period. Therefore, the house forms of Dhaka need to be studied to have a better
understanding of the house form Prevailed at that time in Dhaka and thus to compare
these house forms with the house forms of Panam Nagar to find out the genotypes of
the house forms of Panam Nagar.
37
Chapter 03
House Form of Dhaka- Its Evolution and Typology
38
3.1 Introduction:
The house form’ is an expression of family demands and in physical manifestation varies widely
in time, space and groups. But the seminal cultural constraints are embodied in rules of
arranging space which is all pervasive and recognizable. Houses everywhere serve the same
basic needs of living, cooking and eating, entertaining, bathing, sleeping, storing etc. but a
glance at the architectural record reveals an astonishing variety in the ways in which these
activities are accommodated in the houses of different historical periods and cultures. The
important thing about a house is not that it is a list of activities or rooms but that it is a pattern of
space, governed by intricate conventions about what spaces there are, how they are connected
together and sequenced, which activities go together and which are separated out, how the
interior is decorated, and even what kind of household objects should be in different parts of the
home (Hanson, 1998:2).
The history of urbanization in Bengal can be dated back till 5th century BC (Ahmed & Rashid,
2007:6). In earlier stage of urbanization, the urban centers were more of glorified villages with
greater concentration of people, providing wider opportunity for socio-economic exchanges. The
process of urbanization was slow and measured. Rural traditions strongly dominated the socio-
cultural sphere. Hence the life-style of the rural and urban people was almost similar
(Akhtaruzzaman, 2009: 127). As the study area is in Dhaka region, this chapter put emphasis
on the growth and evolution of house form of Dhaka based on the literatures.
The history of Dhaka begins with the existence of urbanized settlements in the area that is
now Dhaka dating from the 7th century CE. The city area was ruled by the Buddhist kingdom
of Kamarupa before passing to the control of the Sena dynasty in the 9th century CE. After the
Sena dynasty, Dhaka was successively ruled by the Turkish and Afghan governors descending
from Delhi Sultanate before the arrival of the Mughals in 1608 (Akhtaruzzaman, 2009).
3.2 History and Evolution of House-Form of Dhaka Region:
As a major city and the capital of Bengal, Dhaka always had its importance in history. During
the Muslim realm, from 1608, Dhaka used to be one of the main administrative center as well as
an important trade center of Bengal. Historically, the house form of Dhaka has been divided
between two classes- the royal and upper class people and the general people. During the
Muslim rule, the high officials and the royal people used to live in the fort or near the fort
(Imamuddin, 1986:33). On the other hand the mass people preferred the comfortable village
dwellings. They used to come to the city in day time for different business and other purposes
but returned to their villages with the night fall (Roy, 1993:308). But with the passing of time,
different artesian and businessmen started living in the city. The urban houses of Dhaka took
39
shape with the increase of trade with East India Company (Mohsin & Ahmed,2007:407).The
morphological characteristics of the city and its houses has changed substantially over time.
The growth of Dhaka shows two distinct pattern ‘indigenous pattern’ and ‘formal pattern’ of
development (Imamuddin, 1982: i.26).
3.2.1. Indigenous Pattern:
Indigenous pattern is characterized by compact and densely built areas with narrow and
irregular road pattern. The houses were mostly inward looking, built from the edge of the plot,
attached to the adjacent building forming a continuous facade along the road buildings in this
pattern of urban area were used for multi-functional purpose, such as living and business.
(Imamuddin,1982: i.27).
The houses of Panam are closely built and adjacent to one another. All the buildings are
arranged on both side of a narrow irregular road. The attached adjacent buildings formed a
continuous façade towards the street. From this point of view, the buildings of Panam can be
characterized as indigenous pattern.
3.2.2. Formal Pattern:
The planned new city developed during the colonial
period, in contrast to the indigenous pattern with
detached buildings and wide roads in regular layout.
The traditional system of mixed use areas were
replaced by single use zones like residential,
administrative and recreational. Detached, outward
looking houses became popular primarily influenced by
the colonial residential bungalows (Imamuddin, 1982:
Fig-3.1: Indigenous Pattern
Fig-3.2: Formal Pattern
40
i.29) where a strong distinction is found between the served and service zone.
In late 19th century urban living was popularized among the local elites. They incorporated the
formal pattern of the classical order along with the practicing indigenous pattern of house form.
Lavishly built houses in a large compound with colonial formal pattern in out-house which had
been used as ‘kachari’ or office of the house lords and informally built interior (vithor bari) with a
courtyard in the center has been popularized among the urban elites. A large number of houses
were built by mingling the two patterns in the undivided Bengal. Though there are some
examples of this type are found in the urban center of Dhaka, but these buildings are more seen
in the country side (Reza, 2008).
3.3 Forces Influencing the Evolution of House Form of Dhaka Region:
From different literature it is found that various socio-political, cultural, economical and physical
forces have acted in different degrees at different time on the growth of urban pattern, design
and organization of the houses. (Imamuddin, 1982:1.22-1.25).
From the very beginning, agriculture remained as the main force of the economy of the Bengal.
Therefore the society developed here were basically agrarian society. The initial urbanization in
Bengal was based on the trade and marketing of the agricultural products as well as other
necessary items of day to day life. The earliest urban society in this region was based on trade.
Some group of artisans started living in Dhaka and operated their business from their houses as
they did in the villages. Gradually a specific urban pattern of linear street facing extended
houses on both sides. The indigenous houses of such patterned in urban area of Dhaka were
mostly built under this consideration of business with living (Imamuddin, 1982:2.12).
Originally people with homogeneous occupation grouped together in different Mohallas and
accordingly the Mohallas were identified and named. Later due to the diversity of urban
occupation, population of Mohallas represented the mixed social, occupational and income
group in the informal part of the city. The rich and the poor lived together in close conformity
within the same community. On the other hand, the segregation was being made according to
income class in the formal/ non-vernacular part of the city. Housing and jobs were inter-related
from the earlier times. Mohallas originated as working community, provided accommodation for
its workers. Previously, a new migrant’s location in the city was predetermined and relatively
fixed. It was a social rule that, one who provides the job is also responsible for providing
accommodation (Imamuddin, 1982:1.25).
For thousands of years, religion had played a vital role in housing the people. Apart from the
pre-historic evidence, these religious philosophies had been forming the socio-cultural and
41
philosophical ideals of the society that reflected in the indigenous culture and psychological
attitude of the people of the urban society. In the societies of this region, the Hindu and the
Muslim were the major community lived in close contact based on the land and land generating
agriculture (Haque,1997:15-17). In house design, two separate philosophies of the religious
customs were followed respectively. The ‘mandala’ the cosmic order of the house design was
widely practiced in the Hindu society, while the ‘purda’ the privacy custom of Muslim female was
the key concern of Muslim house form in this region. The open courtyard in both societies,
played as the main spatial context of ritual and festivals of the family from rustic hut to brick built
building. Every Hindu house had a ‘tulsi manch’ (a sacred place for daily worship) in the internal
court of the house. On the other hand, there were no such elements in the houses of the
Muslims (Haque, 1997:23). Thus different aspects influence the evolution of urban house form
of Dhaka.
3.4 Typology of House-Forms of Dhaka Region:
The primary house form of the region is deep rooted in its rural counterpart. Therefore the
house form of Dhaka region can be divided into two basic types, Rural House Form and Urban
House Form.
3.4.1 The Rural House-Form:
The basic house form is a cluster of covered
shelter around a central court (Fig-3.3). The
buildings are loosely spaced, usually a single
room opening on the court. The toilet, baths
are not considered as the part of the proper
house and kept at a distance. Most of the
spaces within the physical form have multiple
uses. So it can be said that all spaces are
living spaces as it overlaps the function.
Court is the center of most of the family
functions as very few functions needed a
roof (Khan, 1982:6.5). Privacy is specified by
the distinct segregation of male/female
domain. These two domains are symbolically represented in the house form. The open court is
identified with the family. It is the female domain and was separated from the outer world with
the cluster of rooms in all four sides. In primordial form it had a religious implication and family
rituals were held here. The out-house (Bangla Ghar) was the male domain. It locates the family
Fig-3.3: Rural House
42
within the community. It is shown in the architectural expression, usually well built though least
used. It is always situated in the entrance of the house. In a wealthy family, it is at a distance
from the main house block where family functions were held (Haque, 1997:19-20).
3.4.2 Urban House Form:
Dhaka, as a meeting point of major riverine routes, served as an outland of a vast hinterland.
The matrix was a ‘constellation of villages’ (physical built up but no different from rural counter
parts), which for different reasons at different times became political center and acquired
administrative symbols to be deemed as a ‘town’.
The early urban houses, until the introduction of the classical order and occidental architecture
by the British, were no difference from their rural counterpart in layout. The process was a
gradual transformation of rural houses into a massive brick masonry structure, conceived in
piece meals. From different historical reference, it is found that, among the variables that
characterized the urban house form in Dhaka, the religion, economy, social class and
profession were intermingled. The pre-Muslim urban settlement of Dhaka was formed on the
basis of economy and trade (Nilufar,1997:104). Until mid 20th century different ethnic groups
had distinct traditional profession and lived together in multi-functional houses which served
both purposes; commercial and residential (Imamuddin:1982:1.24). Different business streets of
old Dhaka possessed these multifunctional houses. Some of the streets had been named after
different artisan groups who have been conducting business from the houses along with the
living purpose. These houses were generally multistoried. The front part of the houses acted as
the shops and the rear part and the upper floors were used for living purposes. Access to the
inner part of the houses was through corridors placed at the side of the house. These corridors
were usually divided by a party wall to provide access to other rooms and to upper floors
through stairways and ultimately terminate to service areas at the rear. Upper floors were
mostly used for residential purposes. (Badruddin, 2010).
The toilets were kept out of the building and the houses developed on clearly demarcated
domains. The narrow frontage and deep inside was a common character of these houses. This
was probably for the dependency on the natural system for water and waste disposal and with
further subdivision the houses became a narrow strip of nominal frontage (Imamuddin,1982,
Haque, 1997:29). However illogical it may appear, it embodied the essential qualities needed to
make an appropriate dwelling of the society prevailed that time. The dwelling stayed self
sufficient in access and service while the length allowed for the maximum separation of family
domain and service area. It allowed for physical arrangement along a defined privacy gradient
(Imamuddin, 1982). The mail domain which was the public zone of the house belonged to the
43
frontal part of the house overlooking the adjacent street. Most of the time there was a small
court in the middle part of the house which segregates the mail and the female domain. The
service area was situated in the rear part of the building connected to the service alley or the
adjacent water body. This part was dominated by the female members of the house and
remained as the private zone of the building (Haque, 1997:25-28).
From pre-colonial period, the house forms of Dhaka had been followed two distinct styles based
on the social grouping and functional use (Haque, 1997:29). Over time, the city’s street pattern
and subdivision into building lots gave birth to two distinct types of mahalla. One contained
buildings that were deep and narrow — as much as 40m. deep — with a road frontage of
approximately 2.5–3.5m. and a height of up to four stories(Haque, 1997:29). This pattern took
shape in the pre-colonial period when this indigenous city was dependent on natural and
manmade canals for drinking water waste disposal, transport and communication
(Haque,1997:30). These long, deep sites had both formal (front) road access and informal (rear)
canal or service-lane access. The use of such plots for commercial along with residential uses
in shop houses played a further role in establishing this pattern ( Rahman & Haque, 2001).
When Dhaka became the administrative center and Capital of Bengal under the Muslim in 1610,
the social hierarchy had been changed to certain degree. As a result new types of dwelling units
had evolved for the rulers and the higher ranked administrative officials. Again in colonial period
the colonial rulers segregated the society of Dhaka in an occidental style. The obvious influence
was on the house form which leads towards another typology of mahalla. This mahalla typology
was more loosely structured. Its dwellings could generally be found on regular (oblong) plots.
But because these were served by an intricate network of lanes and by-lanes, the extent of
individual parcels might often only be perceived by the construction of peripheral walls. Such
areas were basically developed for residential purposes (Rahman & Haque, 2001).
3.5 Types of Urban House Form:
Urban houses in Dhaka can be divided into various types according to their functional use
pattern. Such as- Shop Houses, Kuthi Bari, Zamindar houses, Satellite township houses, and
Professional patties etc (Khan, 1999:64). By ownership, these were both government and
private houses. But, According to the spatial organization all these houses follows two distinct
typology that has been accepted in different literature (Imamuddin, 1982: 2.10-2.20). The
dwelling of Dhaka can be categorized into two broad groups ‘Introverted’ and ‘Extroverted’ on
the basis of spatial organization and built form. (Imamuddin, 1982: 2.10-2.20; Haque,1997:29-
35).
44
3.5.1 Introverted houses:
Introverted houses referred to inward looking courtyard houses. It is the earliest type of urban
house found in Bangladesh (Imamuddin, 1982). This type basically evolved from the rural house
form of Bengal, where court is the center of all major activities and functions.
In general cases most of the introverted houses were
basically, in arranging a series of rooms with transitional
spaces like stair, corridors etc. The male and female domain
had been separated by internal court (Khan, 1982;6.20). The
ground floor contained services and other family activities
which made it the functional part of the house, where the
upper floors remained comparatively less used and were
allocated for living purpose like bed rooms, family livings etc
and remained more private in respect to ground floor spaces.
The living spaces are placed around the court yard. In urban
houses this court came in a modified way. In pre-colonial
merchant houses, the courtyard was for loading and
unloading, in craftsman houses it was a spill over area of the
workshop and in burghers house it was regular farmyard
(Imamuddin, 1982). The introverted houses of Dhaka were
divided into two sub group based on the organization of court
yard and its adjacent spaces. They are:
3.5.1.1 Detached Type:
The detached model (Fig-3.5) taken from the archetype
rural houses reflecting in its urban model. In rural houses,
a number of single detached huts clustered around one or
more courtyard. The courts may connect to each other,
but the huts were never connected. This type prevails in a
dominant urban house form where there is enough space
to accommodate in such a setting (Imamuddin, 1982). In
many houses, however, the construction materials have
changed keeping the form constant.
Fig-3.4-Introverted House, Source: Khan, 2013
Fig-3.5: Detached House Source: Khan, 1999
45
Fig-3.6: Enclosed Courtyard House. Source: Khan, 2013
3.5.1.2 Enclosed Courtyard Type:
The enclosed courtyard type of house form (Fig-
3.6) may refer as the most indigenous urban house
form in our country as its rural counterpart is not
seen in our national entity. This type of house is
usually enclosed around a central courtyard.
Sometimes, this court is so small that it only acts as
a light well for the multistoried linear buildings. In
ground floor, rooms are arranged around the court,
giving access inward. In upper floor, a continuous
veranda is provided projecting the court to which
rooms are open. Entry to such a house of Dhaka
was normally through a sitting room (also named
the drawing or living room), a feature synonymous
with the front or formal domain of the rural
compound. This was sometimes fronted by a
verandah or court. Behind this public area, the private part of a house would surround an
internal court, sometimes with a colonnaded verandah. The inner court occupied the juncture
between public and private space, and served as the conceptual focus of the house. Rooms, if
not directly accessible from the court, maintained a conceptual relationship to it, which defined
their degree of privacy. In an urban setting, such a court also created a pleasant microclimate
(Rahman & Haque, 2001). As in the traditional houses, the rooms had multi functions. In day
time these rooms were used for working purposes and at night for sleeping purpose. This
particular kind was evolved due to the demand of street frontage and scarcity of land in the
urban area (Rahman & Haque, 2001).
3.5.2 Extrovert Houses-Bungalow:
Extroverted type refers to the outward looking houses and their component parts exist in free
relation to one another. It was relatively a new model, primarily adopted in the local context as a
consequence of marked socio-cultural changes under the influence of colonial rule that
introduced new life-style, living pattern and values in urban dwellers.
The colonial cities grew on western contemporary concepts in contrast to native cities with wide
open and straight road pattern, isolated bungalows with spacious gardens. This inspired the
local elites to follow the model of colonial residential architecture. It was a complete different
setup than our traditional setting. The bungalow itself is an improvised form, suitable for the
46
British rulers in Indian subcontinent. Bungalows were isolated structure built in the center of a
large compound and extroverted in nature. The main block was generally square in shape and
had veranda all around the four sides of the mass. It was created to keep the hit out from the
living zone. The veranda was extensively used for various purposes. The main building block
had a living room connected to a dining and several bed rooms with attached bathroom and
dressing through corridors or veranda. The type became so popular to the British rulers, that all
the government quarters of the British government were designed following the functional
zoning of these bungalows (King, 1984). Gradually a new type of bungalow named consolidated
bungalow evolved which merged the service block in the same building mass. The segregation
between the master and servant was no longer needed as these were designed for the native
employees of British Government. These were comparatively small in size with the same
functional zoning as in the compound bungalow (King, 1984). Hence, the extroverted type
houses too, represent two different types of house forms:
3.5.2.1 Composite Type:
The pattern of composite extroverted
houses (Fig-3.7) has been adopted from
the colonial bungalows with certain
modification. It represents a free
standing, outward looking courtyard less
house which has detached service
functions in its backyard of a large
compound.
The main house is one or two storey
having spacious rooms connected to a
central hall room in the ground floor or to
a spacious veranda throughout the building. The rooms of the first floor are all generally opens
to a similar veranda. The service is detached from the main house. The distinct zoning of class
difference between the served and servant is clear in this type of house form.
3.5.2.2 Consolidated Type:
Distinctiveness of consolidated type (Fig-3.8) is the integration of the living and service part into
a single mass. In earlier version of consolidated type design shows apparent efforts to maintain
the socio-cultural distinctions between classes and distance relations associated with different
Fig-3.7: Extroverted Composite Bungalow, Source: Khan, 1999
47
domestic spaces and functions like served and services, functional and living spaces, private
and public spaces etc. Such consideration lids to a general typology where service part with
toilet, kitchen, store and servants living became a separate wing attached to the main building
block. In some large houses, these two wings could operate independently. This arrangement
inevitably followed either L or U shaped plan and became a popular among the urban elites of
the region. Nevertheless, the house became separated into three distinct zones-public, private
and service (Haque, 1997:35-36).
Beside these two basic types, there were another typology has been popularized among the
native elites in colonial period. Those are the combination of introverted and extroverted
typology in Zamindar houses or the large houses of the urban elites (Reza,2008:25).
3.5.3 Zamindar Houses:
The final product of the urban elites is a combination of both introverted and extroverted house
form in the planning layout of their residence. Most of the building compounds of Zamindars are
of this category. This type of houses reflects our traditional rural house form in a grand scale.
There is always an outhouse in this type of buildings which were outward looking and
sometimes detached from the main building block connected by colonnade verandas or
corridors. This was the public zone of the house which was strict male zone. There were
temples and other public functions in the outer part of these houses which were occasionally
open for the ladies of the house. The main house blocks were generally arranged inwardly
around one or more central courtyard circulated by a colonnade veranda in every floor. The
privacy of this part was maintained by its inward looking introverted type. The service block was
Fig-3.8: Consolidated Bungalow, Source: Khan, 1999
48
always detached from the residential block. This type of houses kept all the traditional values
along with the colonial modernity of the society. (Reza, 2008).
3.6 Conclusion:
From above literature review it is seen that, in indigenous pattern of houses, the courtyard
integrated the spaces within the buildings. On the other hand, the colonial rulers avoided this
court to make a perfect segregation between served and service. The street front houses of
Panam are apparently seems to be compact in nature. But it remained unknown how similar or
dissimilar the house forms of Panam to the house forms of Dhaka. The arrangement of
buildings on both side of a central street; such a plot division giving the road a frontage; the
deep interior etc. are found in Panam which is very common in the commercial zones of Dhaka
where commercial and residential purposes had been served together within the building (Fig-
3.10, & 3.11). The physical arrangement of the buildings of Panam shows that, the layout
pattern of the buildings of Panam have similarity with the layout pattern of the commercial part
of Dhaka (Fig-3.12). All the buildings of Panam are extensively open towards the street and
welcome the visitors with a highly ornamented street front façade.
Consequently, it is important to examine the plans of the buildings in Panam in comparison to
prevailing type. Physical and spatial differences and similarities needs to be identified to
determine the genotypes of the house forms of Panam. Further scientific analysis is needed to
testify spatial and formal zoning of this front elevation. The indigenous pattern of houses in
Dhaka occupied by the professionals, craftsmen and same ethnic groups, who had conducted
Fig-3.9: Zamindar Houses, The Compound Plan of Ruplal House Source: Architectural Conservation, Asiatic Society, 1996
49
business from their residents, are found having similar character in settlement pattern as
Panam. These house forms are, hence, to be examined to find out whether they are also
symmetric to the houses of Panam buildings. Therefore the houses of Panam are needed to
analyze both physically and syntactically to find out the spatial and morphological
characteristics of these buildings in comparison to the residential house forms of Dhaka.
50
21
103
1
23
45
47
4645
44434241 4O
39
6
7
89
1011
1213
141516171819
20
22
5
23
19
28/1
2425
26 2827/127
36, 3738
35
34 34/1
33/1
33
32/132
30
29
123
4
56
7 7/1
89
9/19/2
1112
13
110/1
108-109
107106
105
104/1104103/1
10210110099
98, 98/1
64-65
1
2
3,4
6
7
7/1
8
9
10
14,15 11-13
24 25-26
27
27/1
28
29,30
34/1
23
31/131
14/1
Pan
ni to
la
Hor
i Pro
sonn
o M
itra
road
Bas
hi C
hand
ra S
en ro
ad
97969594
9392
9190
89, 89/1-2
1415
1617
1819
19/A20
21-22
110
18
51
49
48
47
46
4544
4342
40-4139
3837
36/236/1
3635
34
33
32
313030/1
24, 24/123
87
5757/1
57/258
5960
61-63
6566
6769
71
70
87/1
88, 88/1
72
74/274/1
73/175
75/174
767778
79
80
81, 81/1
82
83
848586
29
27-28
50
26 26/1
25
35
17
10
64
Fig-3.11: Settlement Pattern of Tanti Bazar, a Commercial Street of Dhaka Source: Khan, 2013
Fig-3.12: Settlement Pattern of Panam, Source: Mouza map, 2012
Fig-3.10: Settlement Pattern of Shankhari Bazar, a Commercial Street of Dhaka, Source: Nilufar, 1997
51
Chapter 04
House Form of Panam Nagar
52
4.1 Introduction:
Architecture as a vehicle of personal gratification appeared during the colonial rule by
the emerging merchant class. In Panam, the Hindu merchants locally known as Shahas
and Poddars were the main contributors of the secular buildings of Panam Nagar in
colonial period (18th to 19th century).
4.2 Settlement Pattern of Panam and Around:
The buildings in and around Panam followed two
distinct patterns in respect of location and layout. In
pattern one; the building occupied the central
position in a large compound surrounded by land
developed with ponds, trees and gardens. These
houses were identified as compound house,
number of which is very little and situated in a close
distance from Panam. The other pattern, inside
Panam Nagar, is urban in nature in which large
and small buildings were lined up in a row along a
road having considerably large backyards with
ponds, wells and trees(Hussain, 1997:105). This
pattern may be referred as Street Front Houses.
However, this thesis will concentrate on the street
front houses of Panam Nagar as Panam Nagar has a large assemble of secular building
which is not found anywhere in Dhaka region.
4.3 Physical Organization:
Pattern of physical organization as indicated by the C.S. Map of Mouza Panam
Dulalpur and Thana Baidder Bazar show extremely elongated plot division with narrow
street frontage.The building facades follow the alignment of the road. While the
buildings are placed at one extreme end of the plot on the road front, the toilets are
placed on the other extreme end on the water front. Water of the river and the moat
was used for sanitation purpose (Hussain, 1997:116). Four large ponds, North-South
oriented, exist in Panam. All are located at the southern part of the settlement. The
Fig-4.1: Compound House Plan near Panam Source: Sonargaon-Panam, 1997
53
ponds are placed almost at regular interval from one another. Two on them are
connected directly to the moat in the south and the other two are independent in
nature. The pond probably served the purpose of bathing. Two adjoining single
roomed buildings are identified beside one of the ponds which are speculated as
changing rooms (Hussain,
1997:117). A great number of
paved ‘ghat’ to the surrounding
cannels has been found in the
physical layout of Panam. A
shared use of backyard facility
among the adjoining houses can
be observed from the layout of
pond, ‘ghat’ and well of Panam
city ((Hussain, 2007:383, Kabir, et,
al, 2010).
All these houses of Panam Nagar
have the character of urban Street
Front Houses. These Street Front
Houses were placed with little or
no set back from the road in a row
which refers to their commercial
interface which is found in the
literature review (Hussain,1996:
24). Buildings represent
considerable variety in size,
ornamentation and organization of
spaces.
Panam is the most prominent
early example of Street Front
Houses in a non-urban setting.
Panam Nagar is a unique
township in Sonargaon stretched
in a single road 5 m. wide on the
average and 600 m. in length
(Hussain,1997:113). The road
Fig-4.4: Street View of Panam(East)
Fig-4.3: Street View of Panam (Middle)
Fig: 4.2-Street View of Panam (West)
54
extends from west to east, slightly turns towards north-east after it is half-way through.
The road moves with delicate curves that offer changing vistas of the street facade. The
road is linked with the Dulalpur road by a humped bridge at the west and Thana road on
the east. The area is isolated by ‘Pankhiraj’ cannel running almost parallel to the road on
the north and a moat separates the land from west and south. Forty eight houses are still
standing in dilapidated and disused condition in the settlement. The area is densely built
with single to three storied attached and detached houses of varying types and sizes
(Hussain,1997:113). Majority of the houses are two storied and large houses are partially
three storied.
The comparatively large and decorative houses are situated in the western end to the
middle of Panam Street. In the eastern end of the street, the buildings are less dense, very
small having three to four rooms and very simple treatment of elevation unlike the
ornamented buildings of the western part of the city.
4.4 Building Layout:
Most of the buildings of Panam are attached to each other by sharing the same wall
as well as the backyard. These buildings are elongated in the north-south direction
along the plot. The synchronized elevation treatment in the street front façade
indicates that, each owner presented a facade to Panam Street in order to enrich the visual
symphony of the ensemble, where each building keeping its own identity blended with the
harmonious whole. The elevation of the buildings followed a pattern language of opening
treatment, use of material and ornamentation by which a unity had been achieved.
The buildings are mostly rectangular in shape. The depth is greater than frontage in most
houses. The width of the building varies widely. Smallest being building no. 4 which is only
3.5 m. wide. The largest are building no. 3 and 43, both are around 15 m. wide. Average
width of the building varies between 6 m. to 9 m. Raised plinth and verandah created the
transition space between the house and the street (Hussain, 1997:119).
In physical and literature survey, different types of spatial organization are found in the
houses of Panam Nagar. Some houses have enclosed court yard in the middle of the
house surrounded by the transitional spaces; some houses have decorated double
heighted hall in the middle instead of courtyard; some other doesn’t have any of these
properties. These houses have series of rooms connected by single or multiple corridors.
Single roomed and compartmental buildings (Shaikh & Rahman, 2006:288) are also seen
in this area which were assumed to be warehouses and temple (Kabir, et al, 2010).
55
4.5 Classification of Buildings on Physical Properties:
The buildings of Panam has been reffered as introverted type of buildings by Asiatic Society of
Bangladesh(Hussain, 1997:105). From physical analysis and classification made by Asiatic
Society, buildings of Panam nagar can be broadly divided into three groups according to their
plan layout. They are-
i. Double Heighted Hall type Buildings
ii. Courtyard type Building
iii. Consolidated type Building
Another typology is found in physical survay which contains both a double heighted hall and
enclosed courtyard. Only two buildings(building no-3 and 43)fall under this category.
Fig-4.5: Conceptual Section of Double Heighted hall type Building
Fig-4.6: Conceptual Section of Courtyard type of Building
Fig-4.7: Conceptual Section of Consolidated Type Buildings
56
Fig-4.8
57
4.5.1 Double Heighted Hall type Building:
The double heighted hall didn’t evolve from any British inspiration; rather they are
transformation of courtyard in Indian practice of organization of rooms around a central
courtyard, the court’s place take in these houses by the large central hall (Chattopadhyay, 2007:
175).
The design of these hall type generated with a double height covered hall room as the main
focus of the layout plan. However, the central hall does not mean the physical center of the
plan, but the conceptual center from which the rest of the plan is originated (Hussain, 1997). In
Panam there are five buildings (1, 3, 9, 39 and 43) of this type. Among them Building no 3 have
features, a double heighted hall and an enclosed court in the middle part of the building.
Therefore Building no 3 will be described separately for its special properties.
Building no 1, 9 39 and 43 have double heighted hall in the ground floor surrounded by
continuous colonnade corridors in both ground and first floor. All these halls were richly
ornamented with different materials from terrazzo ornamentation to plaster detail. A small
chamber is seen adjacent to the hall in all cases. This small chamber is always highly
ornamented and only accessible from the double heighted hall. In the prevailing types of
residential building of Dhaka, the presence of such ornamented double heighted halls was not
found anywhere.
Based on the survey by the department of archeology and field survey, this chapter will give a
Fig-4.10: Plan of Building no-9, Source: Archeology Dept. Bangladesh
Sm
all C
ham
ber A
djac
ent t
o th
e H
all
Fig-4.9 View of Double Heighted Hall Source: Field Survey, 2012
58
complete physical description of building no-1, 9 and 39 and a partial description of building no-
43.
Building no-1: Building no 1 is the first building placed in the southern part of the western
end of Panam Nagar. The building has a double heighted hall which is placed in the physical
center of the building surrounded by continuous colonnade corridors in three sides.
A small chamber is seen in the northern end of the hall with highly ornamented colonnade
opening only towards the hall. This small chamber is one step high from the floor level of the
hall which made it look like a stage or raised platform.
Another significant characteristic of this building is that, the building is deliberately connected to
the adjacent building internally in both ground and 1st floor (Fig-4.11). All the openings in the
eastern façade of the hall in the ground floor lead to the adjacent building (Building no-2).
The 1st floor also contains continuous colonnade corridors flanked over the hall in all four sides
of the hall. From this corridor, the hall is clearly visible. These corridors are equally decorated as
those of ground floor. But the other parts of the building are much simple and without any
decoration. From this survey it is found that the hall and the small chamber adjacent to the hall
got the highest emphasis in terms of ornamentation as well as the spatial organization.
Building no-9: Building no 9 (Fig-4.10) is a linear rectangular shaped building which has the
rectangular hall in its physical center. The central double heighted hall is surrounded by
continuous colonnade corridors in all three sides. The building as well as the hall is north south
Fig-4.12: Double Heighted Hall of Building no-1 Source: Field Survey, 2013
Fig-4.11: Plan of Building no-1
59
oriented and symmetric in nature. The small chamber adjacent to the hall is in the northern arm
of the hall which created a visual buffer for the hall from the street as the front room was
extensively open towards the street. This front room leads to the continuous corridor that
enfolds the hall, from two sides of the small chamber. Almost three fourth of the building is
covered with this double heighted hall and its adjacent corridors. The rest of the building
contains a room in the rear part in both ground and first floor. In ground floor this rear room is
connected to the shared backyard of the neighbouring buildings.
Building no-39
Building no 39(Fig-4.13) has a
double heighted hall in the
frontal part of the building in an
off centric position. The hall of
this building directly approached
fron the street without any
veranda or preparetion space.
The frontal part of the building
consists of the double heighted
hall along with the corridors and
the rear part contains
interconnected small rooms.The
hall is highly ornamented. The
small chamber which is adjacent to the hall and only accessable from the hall is found in the
eastern façade of the building. The rear most room is connected to the backyard which was
once demarketed by walled boundary.
4.5.1.1- General Characteristics of the Double Heighted Hall type Buildings:
From the case studies some common characteristics of central hall type buildings are identified.
Such as-
- Though these buildings have halls but their location within the plan is not similar, even
Sizes and orientation also varied one from another. In Building no 1and 9 the hall is rectangular
Fig-4.13: Building no-39, Source: Eshika, 2005
60
in shape with north-south orientation but in Building no 39 it is almost a square with larger arm
in east-west direction.
- Building no 1 and 9 has simple symmetric Plan with the hall in the physical center of the
building. But the rest of the buildings had complex layouts with a large number of rooms apart
from the hall. More over the hall is not always in the physical center of the configuration.
- The halls were located mostly in the front side of the house and were surrounded by
arcaded corridors. These halls were very easily accessible from the street through small
transitional spaces like corridor or veranda.
- The hall synchronizes the spaces of the interior in these buildings. In Building no 1 and
9 all the rooms are arranged in respect to the double heighted hall. In Building no 39 and 43 the
necessity of the halls location in the frontal part of the building arranged its other functions in the
rear part. This particular organization of the hall drives to the conjecture that it was probably
such a place that incorporated the outsiders within the building.
- In all cases, the Halls give direct access to a small chamber at ground level, which
seems to be a chapel/temple, because of its ornamentation, orientation and accessibility from
the hall. In Hindu temples, the sacred place where the god or goddess are placed, are always
been isolated from the other spaces. These isolated spaces are always open to such a space
which is most of the time a less bounded space and where a mass gathering can be possible.
The hall and its adjacent chamber have these characteristics. As there is no evidence of this
small chamber being a temple, this thesis assumes it as a temple and will try to find out the
generic character of these spaces.
- Except the above two characters (Hall with surrounding arcaded corridors and adjacent
chapel) these four buildings had no similarity among them. So there was a possibility that the
Halls served the same functions but the buildings as a whole could not be ascribed similar in
function.
- One important finding is that the Hall Type buildings rarely had enclosed corridors to
connect rooms. Rather, most spaces were accessed from arcaded open corridors which
surround the halls. Halls thus acted as central position of the houses and most circulation
pivoted around the Halls, whether they were in the physical center or not. Besides, ancillary
Courts are found along with Halls in few cases. Location of those courts is in rear parts giving
an idea of service yards, although reasonable large in some case.
61
4.5.2 Courtyard type Buildings:
Courtyard is a very common part in the traditional living of Bengal. This type of buildings may
derived from traditional rural house form centering on a courtyard, but in respect to Panam, it is
quiet hard to put a conclusion to the point. In this case also the central courtyard does not refer
to the physical centre of the house; it means that the building activities and layout are arranged
around the courtyard. The courtyards are essentially enclosed, paved and open to sky. The
inner house overlooks into the courtyard. In general the courtyards are surrounded by verandah
on three sides having arched openings and one end of the court is lined with the boundary wall.
The surrounding verandah acts as corridor and gives access to individual rooms adjacent to the
courtyard and also to the inner part of the building. The enclosing walls of the courtyard are
extensively delineated with arched openings and pilasters but are less ornamented than the
double heighted halls though the circulation pattern around the court and the hall are almost
similar.
Asiatic society has identified four buildings as central courtyard type building, these are,
Building no-5, 32, 33, and 34. Among these buildings, Building no 33 and 34 has been
completely surveyed by the department of archeology and has been analyzed in this category.
Fig-4.15: Plan of Building no-34, Source: Eshika, 2005
Fig-4.14: Plan of Building no-33, Source: Department of Archeology
62
Building no-33: Building no 33(Fig-4.14) has a small enclosed court in the middle part of
the building. This court measures 3.05mX4m. It is surrounded by colonnade veranda in three
sides except the eastern side which is covered by a high wall. This veranda connects the front
and the rear part of the building. There are two staircase in this building. Both are placed in the
middle part and connected to the internal veranda. In the rear part there are a number of rooms
which are connected through a small corridor. Most of the rooms are interconneced with its
adjacent room. There is a large enclosed backyard seen in this complex which has an access
from the rear end towards the pankhiraj canal.
Building no-34: It is a two storied building(Fig-4.15) and have a small enclosed courtyard.
In the western part of the court is a high wall and the other three sides are enclosed by a
continues collonade veranda. in this building the frontal part consists more rooms than the rear
part unlike building no-33. There is a small corridor in this part connecting the front room to the
internal veranda. The middle part have the court and two adjacent rooms which are open to the
colonnade veranda around the court. The rear part has two unequal rooms and a staircase.
Again the front and rear part of the building are connected to eachother by the colonnade
veranda around the court.The upper floor is comparetively small in size. Its in the frontal part of
the building. The spatial layout is same as ground floor. The rest of the first floor is left as
terrace. There are beautiful colonnade veranda in both ground and first floor.
4.5.2.1 General Characteristics of Courtyard Type Buildings:
- One important finding is that in the Courtyard Type buildings some rooms/spaces in ground
floor were accessed from arcaded corridors which surround the courts.
- These buildings sometimes had ‘enclosed corridors’ to connect rooms in some other parts of
the buildings.
- However, the position of courts is not physically centralized like many Halls of previous group.
Rather they are off-centered and may be called as ‘internal courtyards’ acting as light wells.
- The internal circulation are distributed around these courtyard. the front and rear part of the
building are connected to each other through the circulation verandas around the court.
- In addition to the internal courtyards, some cases had rear courtyards indicative as a service
yard, although were reasonably big in size.
63
Again, there are such examples which have both double heighted hall and an enclosed
courtyard. such as Building no-3 and 43(Fig-4.16, 4.17). Building no-3 and 43 are both among
the largest buildings of Panam Nagar.
Between these two buildings Building no-3 (Fig-4.16) is the most atypical case. This building is
partially three storied with both a double heighted hall and an enclosed court yard, which is not
common in the houses of Panam Nagar. The courtyard divided the house in two parts. The
frontal part was larger in size containing the main building block which has the double heighted
hall in its first and second floor and the rear part is comparatively small carrying a series of
adjacent rooms connected to a continuous veranda in both ground and first floor. Physical
survey shows that, the hall is highly ornamented and surrounded by colonnade corridors in both
first and second floor. Though the hall is
in the first floor, still it is situated in such
a place where anybody could access
easily from Panam Street through the
staircase which ends in the front veranda
adjacent to the street. This stair was
extensively decorated with rot iron and
wood curving. The other staircases were
Fig-4.16: Building no-3: Source: Dpt. Of Archeology and Field Survey Fig-4.17:Building no-43
Source: Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.18: Partial View of Street Front Façade of Building no-3
64
simple and without any decorations. The frontal part of the ground floor has been divided into
two asymmetric blocks by a corridor connected the frontal veranda to the internal veranda
adjacent to the inner court. Physical survey shows that, these two parts could operate
independently.
Building no-43 (Fig-4.17) is known as ‘Nach Ghar’(hall of dance) among the local people. It is
also a three storied building. This building has a double heighted hall in the ground floor which
is surrounded by continious colonnade corridors in both ground and first floor . This hall is
directly connected to the Panam Street by a linear corridor between two front rooms. A small
chamber is found adjacent to the hall which is accessable from the hall only.
The rear part of the building is compact in nature having large number of small rooms with
minimum or no openings except their entrences. A court is seen in the nothern part of the house
which leads towards the Pankhiraj canal with a flight of stairs. The evedence of toilet facilities is
found in the northern end of the complex over pankhiraj cannel. There is another small court in
the western part of the house which could be approached from outside and leads directly
towards the hall. The department of archoelogy has only drawn the ground floor plan of this
building. As it is not accessable due to its detorating condition, further study of this building was
not possible.
4.5.3 Consolidated Type:
These buildings don’t have the property of the prevailing consolidated type of houses of Dhaka
(Chapter-3). This typology refers by Asiatic Society of Bangladesh to those houses of Panam
who don’t have any inner court or hall. Majority of houses in Panam belong to this typology.
The consolidated types are designed with either an entrance portal or a verandah or a high
plinth as transition space from street to inner house. The physical survey and cartographic
survey shows that, the organization of inner cells and rooms are much similar in most of the
houses. Corridors played very important role in connecting the different parts of the house. The
spaces within these buildings are arranged in such a way that, without these connecting
corridors one cannot go from the frontal part to the rear part of the buildings in many cases.
Therefore, this thesis has been distributed the Consolidated type of houses into three groups
based on the arrangement of these corridors to have a better understanding of the spatial
arrangement of these buildings. They are-
i. Single Corridor Buildings Multiple Corridor Buildings
ii. Buildings without Corridors
65
Among all the consolidated types, this thesis will analyze fourteen buildings those have a
complete plan. For proper analysis, these fourteen buildings have been distributed among the
above three groups.
4.5.3.1 Single Corridor Buildings: There are some buildings in Panam in which internal
spaces are connected, especially in the ground floor, with a linear corridor. In most cases the
frontal part of the ground floor is directly connected to the rear part only with this corridor. Four
cases have been taken under this sub-class. They are:
Building no-23 and 24: Both 23 (Fig-4.19) and 24(Fig-4.20) no buildings are one storied
small building having similar physical layout. There are two small enclosed rooms in the middle
part of the building which are only open in the rear room. A small corridor in between these two
rooms in the middle part connects the frontal and the rear part of the building. The front room
and the rear room are same in size and have a length of the buildings total length.
Building no-25: Building no-25(Fig-4.21) is a small single storied building with two small
rooms in the middle measuring 2mx3m. The spatial organization of the building remained same
as Building no 23 and 24. Only exception is that there is no stair case in this building. There is a
linear corridor in the middle of the layout connecting the larger rooms of frontal and rear part.
One of the central rooms opens to the corridor and other is open to the room of back side.
Building no-45: Building no-45(Fig-4.22) is a single stored building. Except the front room
adjecent to the street the rest of the rooms are small in size.The mean measurement of these
rooms is 1.83 m X 2.14m. the front room is linear lerctangular in shape. All the rooms are
connected to the front room. one part of the building has a small linear corridor which connects
Fig-4.20: Plan of Building no-24, Source: Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.19: Plan of Building no-23, Source: Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.21: Plan of Building no-25, Source: Dept. of Archeology
66
the front room and a part of the rear block of the building. the
rear rooms are open to the outdoor in the back of the building
which is shared among the adjacent buildings.
4.5.3.2 Multiple Corridor Buildings:
Comparatively large buildings of Panam have more than one
corridor where the frontal rooms are connected to the rear part
with multiple corridors. In some cases these corridors are open
to all the rooms adjacent to it, especially in the first floor. Most
of the consolidated type of buildings of Panam has multiple
corridors. Among them available cases has been studied in this
thesis.
Building no-2: It is a two storied building (Fig-4.23) which is connected to one of the central
hall type of buildings (Building no-1) internally. Small enclosed cell placed in the central part of
the building segregated the frontal part from the rear part. These cells can only be accessed
from their adjacent room in the rear part of the building. The front part and the rear part of the
building are connected by a very linear and dark corridor through which only one person can
pass at a time. There is another such linear corridor in the first floor with more openings. The
first floor rooms are also interconnected.
Fig-4.23: Plan of Building no-2, Source-Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.24: Plan of Building no-27, Source-Dept. of Archeology
Fig: 4.22-Plan of Building no-45, Source: Dept. of Archeology
67
Building no-27: Building no-27 (Fig-4.24) is a two storied building. Both the floors have the
similar layout. Two very linear dark corridors connected the frontal and rear part of the building
in two sides. In between these two corridors there are two small linear rooms which are also
connected to both the front and the rear part of the building. Such a small room with the
circulation in its central location is very unsuitable for habitation. Therefore these rooms were
probably non-habitable rooms. The rear room similar to the front room is a larger rectangular
room opened towards the rear veranda. This veranda lids to the backyard which was shared by
adjacent buildings.
Buildin no-37: Building no-37 is a single storied building(Fig-4.25) with two linear
corridors.One is in the western wall and the other is in the
central part of the building. The central corridor divided the
building into two unequal parts. In the eastern part there
are four rooms placed one after another gradually and
connected both within themselves and with the adjacent
corridor. The western part has two small enclosed room
open in the rear part of the building. Both the corridor ends
in that rear room with which the central rooms are
connected. The central corridor is the only link between
this two part of the building. the front and the rear room
connecting the outdoor are larger in size and other rooms
are more like a cubicle.
Building no-38: Building no 38(Fig-4.26) is a two storied
building. The department of archeology had drawn only
ground floor plan of this building. It has three small rooms in
its central part all of which can be approached from both the
frontal and the rear part of the building. Three linear
corridors are placed in between these rooms which only
connects the front and the rear rooms. The front part has
colonnade veranda adjacent to the street and the rear part is
directly open to the outdoor without any veranda.
Building No-41: Building no-41 (Fig-4.27) is a two storied building. The ground floor is
divided into two parts with a continuous wall. The two separated parts are connected from out
side. A series of small rooms are seen in the ground floor of this building. In both parts rooms
Fig-4.25: Plan of Building no-37 Source: Dept. of Archeology.
Fig-4.26: Plan of Building no-38 Source: Dept. of Archeology.
68
are placed serially one after another and approached from a linear corridor. These corridors
work as the main circulation spine of this building. In first floor there are three inter connected
comparetively larger rooms placed one after another followed by two terraces in different level.
Building no-42: It is a two storied building that shared the same wall with building no
41(Fig-4.28). There are four small compartment in the center of the ground floor plan followed
by two larger rooms in front and back part. Two staircases are seen in this building. One is from
the fromtal part and the other is from the rear part. Two lenear corridors (which doesn’t have
any opening except the entry and exit)are seen in the eastern and western end of the building.
These corridors connected the frontal room and the rear room. the central rooms are
accessable from the rear part of the building. In first floor, instead of small compartments there
are 3 larger rooms connected to one another. A corridor has been run through the western
facade from southern end to northern end which is accessable to all the rooms unlike the
corridor of the ground floor. Both the staircases are lead to this corridor.
Building no-42A: It is a single storied building with the similar layout as building no 38. Only
the difference is that, in this building, the central chambers are enclosed in all three sides and
only open to the rear part of the building(Fig-4.29). there is a colonnade veranda in the front of
the building which can be directly approached from Panam Street which is followed by the linear
rectangular room with two stairs in two sides. Three linear corridors connects the front and the
Fig-4.27: Plan of Building no 41 Source: Department of Archeology
Fig-4.28: Plan of Building no-42 Source: Dept. of Archeology.
69
rear part of the house.Three small chambers are seen the middle part which are open towards
three rear rooms.
Building no-44: (Fig-4.30) is a two storied building. Only ground floor plan is available. Like
most other buildings of Panam, this building also have small chambers in its center which opens
towards the rear room. There are two linear corridor which connects the rooms of front and rear
part of the building.
4.5.3.3 Buildings without Corridor:
Fig-4.29: Plan of Building no-42A, Source: Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.30 Plan,Building no-44, Source: Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.31: Plan of Building no-4, Source: Dept. of Archeology
Fig-4.32: Plan of Building no-26, Source: Dept. of Archeology.
70
In this type of buildings there are no separate circulation space like corridor. Rather rooms are
set serially and connected to one another. A good number of cases are found in Panam houses
which nether have any courtyard or hall nor any corridor. This type of houses are comparetively
small in size. Only house no-26 is the exception. Which is one of the largest house of Panam
and all the rooms are connected to one another ether way. Four cases has been taken for
physical analysis under this group.
Building no-4: Building no-4(Fig-4.31) is the thinnest building in Panam Nagar. It is entered
from the street through a colonnade veranda. Inter connected rooms are placed serially one
after another. The room adjacent to the entry level is comparatively larger than the other two
rooms measuring 5.2m in length. A single flight staircase connects the ground floor to the 1st
floor from this room. 1st floor has two rooms one after another and finally ends in the colonnade
veranda projected to the street below.
Building no-26: Building no-26(Fig-4.32) is a two storied wide building of Panam. The front
and the rear rooms are the largest in the building. The rest of the rooms are small chambers
measuring 1.22mX2.74m. All the rooms are connected to the front and rear rooms. Like other
buildings of Panam, backyard was shared by adjacent buildings.
Building no-31:
The physical layout of building no-
31(Fig-4.33) is not similar to the other
buildings described in this chapter. This
building has different arrangement of
rooms within the building. A
comparetively large room in the center
connects most of the other rooms in this
buildings which is not found in any other
cases of consolidated type of buildings
of Panam. small chambers are arranged
in a row as it is seen in building no
41(Fig-4.27)
4.5.3.4 General Characteristics of Consolidated Type Buildings:
In all the sub-groups of consolidated type of buildings the arrangement of the spaces are more
or less simmetric to each other. Such as-
Fig-4.33: Building no-31, Source: Dept. of Archeology.
71
- The front and the rear part of the buildings have
the largest rooms almost as the width of the
buildings. These rooms are linear rectangle in
shape and can be directly approached from
outdoor. These rooms are connected to each other
through corridors.
- The corridors are very linear (Fig-4.34) and
without any opening in ground floor. They are all
north south oriented and only connects the front
and the rear rooms of the buildings. Sometimes
these corridors also opens in intermediate rooms.
These corridors are so linear that it is impossible for
two people to pass through them together. This
indecates that, probably these corridors were the
service space that connected the formal and informal part of the building.
- As the street can be termed as the formal axis of Panam city, therefore the front room can be
identified as the formal part of the building. The extensive opening of these rooms in all
buildings towards the street indicates that these rooms have a inviting character. The
organization of the large rooms in the front, their extensive openings towards the street all
indicate the commercial interface of these buildings. Thererfore there is a strong possibility that
these rooms were used for commercial purpose by incorporating the outsiders that means the
byers.
- In almost every cases the front room has the vertical circulation that connects the firstfloor.
This again show the absence of privacy in these buildings as the outermost formal room which
is easily accessible for the outsiders are directly connected to the firstfloor of the building.
- Every building have small chambers in the middle part of the building which are ether enclosed
in all three sides or open in northern and southern large rooms. These small rooms are so small
in size that it is very unsuitable for habitation. Moreover, in most of the cases these rooms
doesn’t have proper ventilation inside them.
- The property line of these buildings are not significantly bounded. Rather all the consolidated
type of buildings share the rear outdoor which was probably used as the backyard of these
buildings. these sharing character is another uncommon character in the residential buildings of
Dhaka where privacy is a very important factor.
Fig-4.34: Linear Corridor in Building no-5 Source: Eshika, 2005
72
4.6 General Discussion of the Building Layouts:
From above descriptions, some common physical properties have been found in these buildings
of Panam. Such as Courtyard, Hall, Corridors, Frontal room, Rear room etc. These spaces
played a significant role in the spatial organization as well as accessibility to the internal spaces
of the buildings. Thus they help to determine the physical as well as the spatial character of
these buildings. Therefore it can be said that these elements are organized based on access
and connection of the spaces of these buildings. From the above analysis three types of spatial
arrangement has been found. They are:
(i) Rooms around Internal Court/Hall surrounded by continuous colonnade corridors;
(ii) Rooms accessed by enclosed corridors
(iii) Rooms accessed through rooms
Physical survey shows that, the organization of spaces around the hall and the court are much
similar. Being in the frontal part of the building and surrounded by continuous colonnade
corridor connected to Panam street, in all
cases, the hall is more accessible from Panam
street and thus to the visitors, where the court
and its surrounding continuous corridor is in the
middle part of the building from where the
street was not directly accessible. So it is
comparatively less accessible from the street
than the hall. In building no-1,9and 39 the hall
is directly accessible from the front street by its
adjacent continuous colonnade corridor.
Though in building no 3 the hall is in the first
floor of the building still can be approached
directly from the street by a decorated cast iron
staircase that connects the front veranda
towards the street in the ground floor and the
hall on the first floor.
Some double heighted hall type buildings are
ether connected internally to the adjacent
building(Building no-1) or there are more
controlled private space in the rear part of the Fig-4.36: View inside the Court
Fig-4.35: Street Front Façade of Building no-33 & 34
73
building (building no 39 and 43) which are not visible from the hall and cannot be directly
approached from the street. These spaces are approached from Panam Street through a
number of spaces overlooking the hall. Sometime this hall remained completely isolated from
other spaces of the building (Building no-3. In building no 3 the double heighted hall can be
separately accessed from the front street without interrupting the inhabitants).
Survey shows that in most of the cases the spatial arrangement and physical elements of the
different parts of the courtyard and hall type houses (except the court hall and their adjacent
corridors) are more alike the consolidated type of houses of Panam Nagar. The series of rooms,
arrangement of corridors, enclosed small cells all these features are seen in consolidated type
of houses. From the above plan analysis, it can be said that, a part of the ‘double heighted hall
type’ and ‘courtyard type houses’ are similar to the consolidated houses of Panam Nagar which
were in most of the cases placed in the rear part of the building.
The consolidated type houses have small chambers in the center of the physical layout. This
central part creates visual and physical segregation between the rear part and the frontal part of
the building. The frontal part of the building has larger room which is directly connected to the
street. In consolidated types of buildings, other than those rooms which are physically or
visually connected to the exterior, none of the rooms have proper natural lighting or ventilation.
Moreover, in most of the cases, these rooms in the middle part of the building are very small in
size and have only one opening towards the larger room adjacent to them in the rear part of the
building. That large room was connected to the front part by linear dark corridors in the central
part. The frontal part was extensively open towards the street with at-least three entrances.
Sometimes there was a colonnade veranda acted as a semi-
outdoor space to enhance indoor-outdoor relationship.
Otherwise there were only plinths that leaded people from the
street to the frontal room of the house.
In all cases the frontal part and the rear part of the house is
separated by the central space whether there is a court or a hall
or small enclosed chambers. Therefore it can be said that,
these courts, halls and enclosed chambers divided the buildings
into three distinguished part.
a. The Frontal Block b. The Court/ Hall/ Middle Block. c. The Rear Block.
Front Block
The Court/Hall/
Middle Block
Rear Block
Panam Street
Fig-4.37: Zoning of Interior Spaces within Buildings
74
As the frontal block is directly connected to the street, it can
be classified as the public zone of the building. Its façade
treatment, ornamentation, spatial quality, size and shape lids
to this conjecture that the frontal block behaved as the formal
zone of the complex where some kind of interaction between
the visitors or probably the buyers and the dwellers took
place. The spatial order, number of openings and opening
treatment towards the street indicates that the visitors were
expected in this block.
The rear blocks (Fig-4.39) have also a great number of
openings towards the rear court and have at least one larger
room as the frontal block. But this area was not least
ornamented like the frontal block and was not directly
connected to the Panam Street. Rather there was a secondary informal circulation space
created within the backyards of these buildings on both northern and southern part of Panam
Nagar. This secondary circulation has been created due to the shared facilities like pond, well
and other services among the inhabitants.
The middle block acted as the transitional zone which connected and altogether segregated the
frontal and the rear block. The rear block seems to be remained as the informal zone of the
complex as all the service facilities are in this area apart from the main building block adjacent
to the cannel which is found from physical survey. This block remained private for those visitors
who were willing to approach the building from the street, whether it was fully approachable for
those visitors who enter the complex from rear part.
No function could be identified from the layout plan prepartd by Department of Archeology,
Bangladesh or any other refferences including Asiatic society of Bangladesh who had an
Fig-4.39: Rear Part of Consolidated type Houses
Fig-4.38: Front Room of a Consolidated Type Building
75
extensive study on the houses of Panam Nagar.
So the samples here studied has no functional
laveling. Moreover, from cartographic survey and
historic reference it is found that, there is a ‘kuthi
bari’(Fig-4.40) used by ‘East India Company’
situated beside the northern canal in the
periphery of Panam Nagar which has similar plan
layout as the houses of Panam. This house was
used by the East India Company officers who
used this space for both work and residential
purpose (Chattopadhyay, 2007:179). It is named
as ‘Kompany ka Kothi’ from where different kind of business were conducted by the ‘East India
Company’. This establishment indicates to the conjecture that perhaps the houses of Panam
were not absolutely residential type. Rather they might have some other commercial use which
is not clearly identified.
In the prevailing type of houses of Dhaka, in any literature, such spatial organization is not
found often. The introverted enclosed courtyard type houses though have some similarity with
the courtyard and hall type of houses in Panam around the courtyard. But the other spaces of
these houses are completely different in the physical layout in comparison. Again, the
consolidated type of houses in Panam is completely different in physical properties in
comparison to any type of house forms especially consolidated houses that prevailed in Dhaka
at that time.
Therefore a syntatic analysis is undertaken in this research along with the physical analysis to
revail the social logic of these spaces and find out the genotypes of these house. The following
chapters will conduct a syntatic analysis of these buildings of Panam and compare them to the
prevailing type of houses of Dhaka at that period. Moreover, no description of function or
activity type is revealed in prevailing history of these houses. So it is important to study the
organization of spaces of these by morphologically comparing house with the prevailing
types of houses of Dhaka region to determine the genotypes and thereby to give some clue
regarding the functions of these houses.
Fig-4.40 Present view of the ‘Kuthi Bari’ of East India Company.
76
Chapter 05
Spatial Analysis of the Buildings of Panam
77
5.1 Introduction:
It is the fact of space that creates the spatial relation between function and social meaning in
buildings. The ordering of space in buildings is really about the ordering of relations between
people. Because this is so, society enters into the very nature and form of buildings (Hillier &
Hanson, 1984:1-2). A building may therefore defined abstractly as a certain ordering of
categories, to which added a certain system of controls, the two conjointly constructing an
interface between the inhabitants of the social knowledge embedded in the categories and the
visitors whose relation with them are controlled by the building (Hanson J, 1998:6). Space
syntax is therefore, a tool by which buildings are transformed into dimensionless forms
(Bandyopadhyay, 2007:426) or into the form of adjacency graphs to represent, quantify and
interpret spatial pattern in buildings in such a way that their underlying ‘social logic’ can be
understood. The syntactic data compiled thus, are compared to find any difference in the spatial
organization among the different type of houses of Panam Nagar. In this study, those buildings
are taken for analysis with the Space Syntax for which complete plan is available. This study
goes further in quantitive analysis by looking closely at the distribution of spaces within the
building and how each space is integrated with other spaces. This measure is a powerful
predictor of how busy or quite that particular space is likely to be. Integration3 values will be
measured in each house and in the samples as a whole to see how different functional spaces
integrate or segregate the complex to different degrees. It is the key to understand the social
content of architecture and show how buildings function at a collective level (Hanson,1998:1).
In physical analysis it is found that, the arrangement of court, hall and small cells in the middle
of the buildings, divided the buildings of Panam into three distinct blocks with different
characteristics. Here the frontal block seems to perform as the formal zone of the building
where the rear block appeared as the informal zone. By connecting these two blocks with
corridors, courts and halls the central part remained as the transitional zone of these buildings.
The major circulations had been provided around the central spaces. Hence, this chapter will
focused on the spaces of these three blocks, especially the courts, halls, corridors, front and
rear rooms etc. in the ground floor. Thus by using and analyzing the measures of space syntax,
this chapter will try to characterize the syntactic properties of these particular spaces and find
out the pattern of spaces within these buildings. Through space syntax analysis, these spaces
3 Integration is an important measure of space syntax analysis which has been used in this thesis. If the integration value of a space is found more than one then the space can be termed as a high integrated area of the building from where the spatial character of the complex can be controlled. On the other hand the value below one represents the segregating tendency of the complex. This indicates to the degree of privacy of a space.
78
can be interpreted as elaborations on the inhabitant-inhabitant and inhabitant-visitor interfaces
which are the fundamental social generators of buildings (Hanson, 1998:22).
5.2: Syntactic Analysis of the Houses of Panam Nagar:
The twenty one samples of three types of buildings, Double Heighted Hall type, Courtyard type and Consolidated type, collected from different sources have been analyzed to find out
the morphological character of the buildings of Panam Nagar. Therefore this chapter will only
emphasize on the found complete samples of these three types of buildings. In all the cases,
the carrier or the root space has been taken from frontal entry of the building on Panam Street
as the buildings are directly approached from the street. All the spaces outside the building
have been taken as one point. As the functional labeling could not be identified in any prevailing
literature, the present study has been identified different convex spaces4 and labeled by
numbers for analyzing properly. The continuous corridors around the halls and courts have
been divided into different convex spaces.
5.2.1 Double Heighted Hall type Buildings:
Three complete samples had been found of double heighted hall type buildings. These are
building no 1, 9 and 39 which will be studied in this chapter to find out the social logic of the
spaces through syntactic analysis, especially the double heighted halls and spaces around
them.
From Justified graph analysis it is seen that the configuration of double heighted hall type
buildings of Panam are moderately deep and ringy graph. Building no-1 (Fig-5.1,5.3) and
building no-9 (Fig-5.2,5.4) is six steps deep and building no-39 (Fig-5.5) is nine steps deep
from the carrier. In this type of buildings the hall is always found in the shallower zones of the
configurations. In building no-1 and 39(Fig-5.3&5.5) the hall is two steps away from the carrier
and in building no 9, it is three steps away from the carrier (Fig-5.4).
The graphs show that, ringiness5 is one of the major characteristics of these buildings. Most of
the spaces of building no 1 and 9 are distributed in one or another ring. This ringiness made the
entire configuration syntactically shallow. For example, building no 39 has fewer rings. As a
4 Convex space is a space where no line between any two of its points crosses the perimeter. A concave space has to be divided into the least possible number of convex spaces.
3 When one space is linked to another space with more than one link in syntactic measure it is called ring. Having rings in a space syntax tree is a special character of the tree. This character is called ringiness. It describes the arrangement and distribution of spaces in a building. Those spaces that share a ring can be accessed from any point of that ring. Ringiness determines the level of privacy and relation between spaces of a building.
79
result, building no 39 is deep sequence having more non distributed segregated spaces (Fig-
5.5).
Table 5.1 shows syntactic values of Building no 1. In Building no 1, the integration value of the
double heighted hall is 1. All the transitional spaces around the hall in both ground floor and first
floor are strongly integrated. The highest integration 1.25 is found in space no-4 and 11. These
are the transitional6 spaces around the double heighted halls in the middle block of the
6 Transitional spaces are the spaces through which circulation of the system can be carried out.
Fig-5.3: Justified Graph of Building no-1
Fig-5.1: Plan of Building no 1 Source: Department of Archeology
Fig-5.2: Plan of Building no 9 Source: Department of Archeology
Fig-5.4: Justified Graph of Building no-9
80
configuration in ground and first floor consecutively and also connected to the next building
internally. On the other hand, the enclosed and uni-permeable cell adjacent to the hall has very
low integration value 0.625 as well as very low control7 value 0.25 which proves that, these spaces have high segregating quality.
Table-5.1: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-1
All these three buildings have small uni-permeable chamber adjacent to the double heighted
hall (Fig-5.3, 5.4 & 5.5). In building no-1 and 9, all the spaces of ground floor except these uni-
permeable small chamber adjacent to the hall, are distributed8 in a ring with the exterior. In
building no 39 (Fig-5.5) half of the ground floor spaces along with the hall are distributed in the
ring with the outdoor. We know that, the links between the interior and the exterior of a house is
an important dimension of configurational analysis to understand the relative importance and
inhabitant-visitor relationship for the planning and organization of the house. That is, when
spaces are distributed with the exterior in a ring, the interior spaces become shallower and
easily permeable for the visitors (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:147-155). However, it is quite clear that
rings with outdoor made the ground floor spaces shallower in these buildings.
Again, the hall is also distributed in all the internal rings that link ground floor spaces (Fig-5.3,
5.4 & 5.5). Thus the hall has become the intersection point of more than one ring which made
7 Control value is a dynamic local measure. It measures the degree to which a space controls access to its immediate neighbours taking into account the number of alternative connections that each of these neighbours have. If the control value is less than 1, the control of the space becomes week.
8 Distributedness is a syntactic measure of spaces linked to each other. That is when more than one spaces are interconnected to each other with in a ring, those spaces are identified as distributed space in the configuration.
Name Space number Control value Depth Mean depth Integration(1/RRA) Carrier 0 1 0 3.06 1
Front room/veranda 1 1.4 1 2.6 1.25
Cor
ridor
s ar
ound
do
uble
hei
ghte
d ha
ll 2 0.75 2 3.11 1 3 1.3 2 3.22 0.885 4 1.6 1 2.6 1.25
11 2.1 3 2.6 1.25 12 2.1 4 2.8 1 13 1.6 5 3.3 0.83 14 1.6 4 3.1 0.91
Double Heighted Hall 5 2 2 3.2 0.885
Cell adjacent to the Hall 6 0.25 3 4.2 0.625
81
the hall an integrated space of these configurations. On the other hand, non-distributed and uni-
permeable9 spaces remained most segregated spaces in the configuration10.
All the transitional spaces in the middle block of the configurations 1, 9, and 39 have high
control values (table-5.1, 5.2 & 5.3) which indicate that, these spaces have a very strong control
over their neighbouring spaces (Hillier & Hanson, 1986: 109). The table 5.2 shows that, all most
all the spaces of building no-9, most of the spaces have low integration value. Only the
transitional spaces around the hall are integrated spaces. The highest integration (1/RRA) 1.43
is found in a central transitional space (space no-2), adjacent to the hall. The mean integration
of this configuration is 0.9 and the mean depth is 6. In building no 39(table-5.3) the highest
integration 1 is found in the hall and the spaces around the hall in ground floor. The rest of the
spaces remained segregated with strong control.
From above analysis, it can be said that, the double heighted hall and the spaces around the
double heighted hall show similar syntactic properties. Such as-
a. In these graphs the hall is placed in shallower positions, which are two to three steps
deep from the root point of the configuration. The hall is also an integrated space around which
9 A cell with one entrance can be said an uni-permeable point while a cell with more than one entrance can be conceptualized as bipermeable point (Hanson,1998:7)
10 Spatial relation exists when there is any type of link between two spaces. Configuration exists when the relation that exists between two spaces are changed according to how we relate each to a third or indeed to any number of spaces. configurational description therefore deal with the way in which a system of spaces is related together to form a pattern (Hanson,1998:23).
Fig-5.5: Justified Graph and Plan of Building no-39
82
strongly integrated spaces of the configuration are located. All these integrated spaces are the
transitional corridors around the hall.
From Table 5.4 it is found that, the hall is always two to three steps deep from the frontal road.
The hall remains integrated in building no-9 and 39 with the value of 1 in both cases and slightly
segregated in building no1 with the value of 0.885. But in all cases, it has high control value
which again indicates a strong control over its neighbouring spaces. These syntactic measures
are the characteristics to represent the hall as a space where visitor inhabitant relation took
place.
Table-5.2: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-9
Name No of Spaces
Control Value Depth Mean
Depth Integration
(1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.8 0 3.5 0.67 Front Room 1 1.1 1 2.8 1
Corridors around the Double Heighted Central Hall
2 1 2 2 1.43 3 1 2 3 0.77 5 1 2 3 1
10 1.6 5 3 0.77 11 1 6 4 0.6 12 1.5 4 2.5 1 13 1 5 3.2 0.77
Double Heighted hall 4 2 3 3 1 Small Cell adjacent to Hall 7 0.25 4 4 0.625 Table-5.3: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-39
Name Rooms Control Value Depth Mean
Depth Integration
(1/RRA) Carrier 0 0.8 0 4.5 0.67
Corridors around the Double Heighted Hall
1 1 1 4 0.77
3 1.3 2 3.4 1
6 2 3 3.3 1
15 3.3 5 3.5 0.9
16 1.7 6 4.2 0.77
17 0.2 6 4.5 0.67 25 0.3 7 5.1 0.5
Double Heighted Hall 2 1.8 2 3.6 1 Enclosed Chamber with Hall 4 0.25 3 4.6 0.67
83
Table-5.4: Syntactic Measures of the Double Heighted Central Hall of Building no-1, 9 and 39.
Building no Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration (1/RRA) Building no-1 2 2 3.2 0.885 Building no-9 2 3 3 1 Building no-39 1.8 2 3.6 1
b. The position of the hall is in the intersection point of more than one ring among which at
least one connects the exterior (Fig-5.3, 5.4 & 5.5). This made the hall as the locus of the
visitor-inhabitant interface. Thus the hall is distributed among the internal as well as external
spaces and encourages the outsiders or the visitors to participate and experience the indoor
activities. As we know that, the distributed system is the set of spaces through which the
visitors, subjected to more or less control, may pass. That is, visitors, during the course of their
activities, are moved from one place to another, and often can experience much of the interior
as a series of spaces (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:167). The ringy interior of these buildings allow
the visitors to move from one space to another linked space which reduce the privacy of these
buildings.
c. Though the hall is placed in the intersection point of different rings, still there are always
different choices of path for a person who enters these configurations to move from one space
to other overlooking the hall. That is, though the hall is distributed with all the spaces of ground
floor through series of linked spaces, but it is not necessary for a person to pass through the
hall every time he goes from one space to another within the building. Still the hall has a strong
control (control value-2 in building no 1 and 9 and 1.8 in building no 39) over its neighbouring
spaces and strong visual connectivity with the transitional spaces around it. Thus, without being
involved in the day to day activities of the configurations, the hall still remained as a strong
controlling space in these configurations.
d. The transitional spaces around the double heighted hall in the ground floor have the
highest integration value of these configurations and also have a strong control over their
neighbouring spaces (Table-5.5). In Building no 1 the mean integration of the colonnaded
corridors around the hall is 1.1 in ground floor and 1 in first floor. In Building no 9 the mean
integration is 1.1 in ground floor and 0.8 in first floor and in Building no 39 the mean integration
of the colonnade corridors around the hall in the ground floor is 1 and first floor is 0. 735. These
integrated corridor are neither enclosed by continuous façade nor completely open towards the
84
hall. Rather these corridors are easily permeable spaces with a series of colonnade openings
towards the hall. Therefore it can be said that, the hall is surrounded by integrated corridors
which are organized by a continuous system of boundaries. These corridors also have
permeabilities towards their neighbouring spaces and are distributed to the bipermeable spaces
in the ground floor as well as with outdoor.
In an ideographic language for architecture it can be said that the space organized for social
purpose are always neither purely continuous nor purely bounded. The effective space
organized for human social purpose are a conversion of spatial continuum by a system of
boundaries and permeabilities (Hanson, 1998:6). The hall and its adjacent corridors support this
theory of socialization both physically and syntactically. Moreover the rings that distributed the
internal spaces to the outdoor made these configurations more permeable for the visitors.
Table-5.5: Space Syntax Analysis of Transitional Spaces around the Hall
e. The small cell adjacent to the hall is found, in all the three cases, have a strong
segregating character. The small chamber adjacent to the hall remained non-distributed and
segregated from other spaces (table-5.6). Being in the shallower part of the system, this space
remained extremely segregated. The integration value of this cell in building no-1and 39 is 0.67
Name Control value Depth Mean depth
Integration (1/RRA)
Mean Integration
Bui
ldin
g no
-1
Gro
und
Floo
r 2 0.75 2 3.11 1 1.1 3 1.3 2 3.22 1
4 1.6 1 2.6 1.25
Firs
t Flo
or
11 2.1 3 2.6 1.25
1 12 2.1 4 2.8 1 13 1.6 5 3.3 0.83 14 1.6 4 3.1 1
Bui
ldin
g no
-9
Gro
und
Floo
r 2 1 2 2 1.43 1.1 3 1 2 3 0.77
5 1 2 3 1
Firs
t Flo
or
10 1.6 5 3 0.77
0.8 11 1 6 4 0.6 12 1.5 4 2.5 1 13 1 5 3.2 0.77
Bui
ldin
g no
-39
Gro
und
Floo
r 1 1 1 4 0.77 1 3 1.3 2 3.4 1
6 2 3 3.3 1
Firs
t Flo
or 15 3.3 5 3.5 1
0.735 16 1.7 6 4.2 0.77 17 0.2 6 4.5 0.67 25 0.3 7 5.1 0.5
85
and in building no-9 is 0.625. This didn’t happen accidentally in these genotypes. The pattern
itself is usually capable of more than one interpretation. This ambiguity is inherent in the
meaning of the shallow arm of the plans. In the first place, it can be interpreted functionally, as a
convenient place to do house hold work; but its only connection to the double heighted hall and
similar syntactic value in all three cases doesn’t support this theory. So, in second instance, it
had to be assigned a symbolic value, as a separate but shallow place appropriate to the
celebration of special and therefore more formal events, such as the celebration of prayers.
When a separate shallow uni-permeable space is surrounded by integrated and distributed bi-
permeable spaces, the uni-permeable space represents different kind of functional segregation
(Hanson, 1998:78). More over it is in the center of the highest integration zone of the
configuration. Therefore it reinforces the conjecture that, this small chamber was probably a
temple or a very special space as this particular space was highly decorated with ornamented
columns and floral motifs and opens only towards the hall and was raised one step up from the
other spaces of ground floor. This particular space probably held such a function which all
together needed people in front of it and still needed a strong privacy for its own. So, it can be
assumed that, the double heighted hall was probably a space for public gathering in special
occasions which was dedicated to this uni-permeable cell. Therefore, it can be said that, this
particular chamber was, most probably, the reason for the double heighted hall.
Table-5.6: Syntactic Measures of the Small Chambers adjacent to the Hall.
5.2.2 Courtyard type Buildings:
In courtyard type houses the court situated in the middle part of the building separated the
building into two blocks. The frontal block has one or two rooms and the rear block contains
most of the rooms of the configuration. Among the courtyard houses of Panam, this chapter will
analyze two buildings, building no-33 and building no-34 with Space Syntax to find out the
spatial pattern of this type.
From physical analysis it is seen that both the buildings have small court in the middle block of
the building which is surrounded by colonnade verandas in all three side and closed by the
boundary wall in another side. These shaded verandas are the only link between the front and
rear block.
Building no Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration(1/RRA) Building no-1 0.25 3 4 0.67 Building no-9 0.25 4 4 0.625 Building no-39 0.25 3 4.6 0.67
86
Syntactic analysis shows that, both the buildings have deep ringy sequence with a large number
of bi-permeable spaces. A great number of uni-permeable spaces are also seen in these
buildings. Both the configurations formed uni-linear sequential branches11. The spaces in the
graph are linked to each other by transitional spaces like stairs, corridors and verandas situated
in the middle of the justified graph and thus forming small rings (Fig-5.8 & 5.9).
Building no 33 (Fig-5.6 & 5.8) is a nine steps deep system with a number of segregated uni-
permeable spaces. The mean integration of this configuration is 0.8 (Table-5.7). In building no-
33, the highest integration 1.4 is found in the ground floor corridor adjacent to the court (space
no-8) which is placed in the middle block of the configuration. This corridor is 4 steps deep from
the carrier. The mean depth of this space is 3, the control value is 2.2 (Table-5.7). Therefore
this corridor can be identified as the most integrated space of this configuration and has strong
control over its neighbouring spaces.
11 Uni-linear sequence is such a series of bi-permeable spaces which are linked to their next space but does not form any ring and thus ends in a terminal uni-permeable space.
Fig-5.6 Plan of Building no-33
Fig-5.7: Plan of Building no-34
87
The central transitional spaces both in the ground and first floor of Building no-33 remain as the
most integrated spaces of the configuration. The front room and other bi-permeable rooms
directly linked to the transitional spaces remained integrated. The rest of the spaces of the
configuration remained segregated. The frontal part of this building also remained integrated.
But the rooms in the rear block are found strongly segregated.
From table 5.8, it is found that, Building no 34 is shallower than Building no 33. The highest
integration (1/RRA) 1.37 is found in space no-2 which is the front room in the formal part of the
building. This room has the highest control as well. The control value of this room is 3.25 which
refer to such a space which has very strong control over its neighbouring spaces.
The court along with the surrounding corridor in the middle block of the configuration remained
integrated. These corridors also have strong control in both ground and first floor. But the
Fig-5.9: Justified Graph of Building no-34
Fig-5.8: Justified Graph of Building no-33
88
enclosed rooms in the middle and the rear part of the building remained segregated with a very
low integration value (Table-5.8).
Therefore it is clear that the front room being two steps away from to Panam Street is a strongly
integrated space which as well controls the inhabitant-inhabitant and visitor- inhabitant
relationship. The middle block around the court also is an integrated part of the building but the
rear block remained strongly segregated as it is seen in the case of Building no-33.
Table-5.7: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-33
Space Name Space Number Control Value
Depth Mean Depth(MD)
Integration(1/RRA)
Carrier 0(Carrier) 0.83 0 5 0.73 Central Court 9 0.7 4 3.5 1
Cor
ridor
s/V
eran
das 1 1.25 1 4.29 0.83
5 1.75 3 3.18 1.25 8 2.2 4 3 1.4
10 0.64 3 3.44 1 12 5.3 2 3.85 0.96 22 2.2 5 3.2 1.25 28 0.45 6 3.8 1
Bip
erm
eabl
e E
nclo
sed
Spa
ces 2 0.53 2 3.97 1
3 2.03 2 3.85 1 6 0.42 3 3.7 1
14 1 5 3.8 1 15 0.7 5 4.5 0.77 16 1.3 4 4.2 0.83 17 0.5 3 4.65 0.74 24 1.53 6 4 0.91 25 1.03 6 4 0.91 29 2.33 7 4.5 0.7 30 0.75 8 5.4 0.625
Uni
-per
mea
ble
Spa
ces
4 0.25 3 5 0.7 13 0.14 3 5 0.7 18 0.14 3 5 0.7 19 0.14 3 5 0.7 20 0.14 3 5 0.7
89
Table-5.8: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-34 Space Name Space no Control
Value Depth Mean Depth Integration(1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.6 0 3.6 0.95
Cor
ridor
s/ v
eran
da
1 1.64 1 3.25 1.1 6 0.34 3 3.15 1.14 9 2.1 4 3.2 1.1
10 1.73 4 3.3 1.05 12 2.42 3 3.26 1.1 14 1.33 1 3.8 0.87 19 0.75 5 3.7 1 20 2 6 3.67 1 21 0.39 5 3.63 1 26 1.14 5 4.15 0.77
Court 11 0.65 4 3.37 1.03
Bi-p
erm
eabl
e sp
aces
2 3.25 2 2.8 1.37 7 0.34 3 3.15 1.14 8 0.34 3 3.15 1.14
13 1.03 2 3.7 1 17 0.67 2 4.26 0.75 22 0.4 5 3.63 0.92 23 0.4 5 3.63 0.92 24 3.33 4 3.26 1.08
Uni-permeable spaces
15 0.25 5 4.3 0.74 16 0.2 4 4.22 0.75
Table-5.9: Syntactic Data of Court in Building no 33 and 34
a. If we see the syntactic values of these configurations, we will find that the frontal block
in ground floor and transitional spaces in the middle block are mostly integrated and the rest of
the configurations remained much segregated. The continuous verandas around the court have
strong integration values (table-5.10) and have strong control over their neighboring spaces.
Therefore it can be said that, the central part of the configuration plays a significant role in
connecting the system locally and globally. That is, the central part of these configurations plays
a significant role to integrate the system and also strongly control the permeability to their
neighboring spaces.
Building No Space no Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration
33 9 0.7 4 3.5 1 34 11 0.65 4 3.37 1.03
90
b. The front room adjacent to the Panam Street in the shallower arm of the justified graph
always remained an integrated space in both the configurations. The rear blocks having lower
integration value remained as segregated spaces of the system. The peripheral rooms in both
front and rear block have strong control in ground floor which refers to the controlled
permeability of the visitors in the interior of the building.
c. The ground floor spaces of both the configurations are distributed in one or other
overlapping rings (fig-5.8 & 5.9) both internally and externally. These rings with the outdoor
made the system shallower. The transitional spaces in the upper floor remained distributed with
external rings; the rest of the spaces remained distributed internally.
d. Again rear rooms with low integration value in both the configuration remain in
shallower arm of the justified graph and distributed with the outdoor with external rings12. The
high permeability of the low integration areas seems geared to allowing the inhabitants out more
than letting the strangers’ in. The system as a whole is geared to the accessing, but at the same
time to the control of strangers (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:122).
Table-5.10: Syntactic Data of Transitional Spaces around the Court in Building No 33 and 34.
Therefore, it can be said that rear part of the system has a certain degree of control over the
visitors. In this part, the external ring, rather encouraging the visitors to enter the configuration,
encourages the inhabitants towards the exterior.
12 External rings-rings that links the outdoor spaces with the indoor spaces.
Name Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration (1/RRA)
Mean Integration
Bui
ldin
g no
-33
Gro
und
Floo
r 5 1.75 3 3.18 1.25 1.22 8 2.2 4 2.97 1.4
10 0.64 3 3.44 1
Firs
t Fl
oor 22 2.2 5 3.2 1.25 1.125
28 0.45 6 3.8 1
Bui
ldin
g no
-34
Gro
und
Floo
r 9 2.1 4 3.2 1.1 1.08 10 1.73 4 3.3 1.05
12 2.42 3 3.26 1.1
91
From this analysis it is seen that the courtyard type houses have their front rooms integrated
and the rear rooms segregated. These two blocks are linked by the integrated transitional
spaces in the middle block around the court.
5.2.3: Consolidated type Buildings:
From physical analysis it is found that, the consolidated type of buildings can be divided into
three sub-groups; Single Corridor type, Multiple Corridor type and Buildings without Corridors; based on the circulation pattern in physical organization. Thirteen buildings of
Consolidated type have been analyzed with Space Syntax to find out the morphological
character of these buildings.
5.2.3.1 Single Corridor type Buildings:
In this group, Building no- 23, 24, 25 and 45 will be analyzed with Space Syntax. Space Syntax
analysis shows that, building 23, 24 and 25 (Fig-5.10, 5.11 & 5.12) have similar syntactic
properties. All these configurations have non-distributed uni-permeable cells in the middle of the
configuration. The front block of building no 23 and 24 are integrated in with the value 1, and
have strong control with the value of 2 for both buildings. In Building no 25, the front room
remained segregated with the value 0.87 and has weak control over its adjacent spaces. The
Fig-5.10: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-23
Fig-5.11: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no 24
92
control value of the front room (Space no-1) of building no 25 is 0.83. In all these three cases
the rear rooms connected to the outdoor are strongly integrated with the value 1.67 for Building
no 23 and 24 and 1.75 for Building no 25. These rooms also have strong control over their
neighbouring spaces (Table no-5.11, 5.12 & 5.13).
Table-5.11: Space Syntax Analysis of Building No 23
Space name Space no Control Value
Depth Mean Depth Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.6 0 1.67 1.25 Bipermeable rooms
1 2 1 1.83 1 4 3 1 1.5 1.67
Corridor 3 0.6 2 1.67 1.25
Uni-permeable cell 5 0.25 2 2.33 0.625 6 0.25 2 2.33 0.625
Table-5.12: Space Syntax Analysis of Building No 24
Name Space no Control Value Depth MeanDepth Integration
(1/RRA) Carrier 0 0.6 0 1.7 1.25 Bi-permeable Rooms
1 2 1 2 1 3 3 1 1.5 1.67
Corridor 2 0.6 2 1.67 1.25 Uni-permeable Rooms
4 0.25 2 2.3 0.625 5 0.25 2 2.3 0.625
Fig-5.12: Plan and justified graph of Building no: 25
93
Table-5.13: Space Syntax Analysis of Building No-25 Name Space no Control
Value Depth Mean Depth Integration
(1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.8333 0 1.8 0.873 Bi-permeable Rooms
1 0.8333 1 1.8 0.873 3 1.83 1 1.4 1.75
Corridor 2 1.83 2 1.4 1.75
Uni-permeable Rooms
4 0.33 2 2.2 0.6 5 0.33 3 2.2 0.6
From these case studies it is seen that-
a. All these three configurations are shallow ringy system and show a segregating
character. Such a shallow system is generally unsuitable for residential use. Therefore the
house form of Dhaka needs to be analyzed to find out whether there is any similarity with this
type of houses of Panam Nagar.
b. In all cases, the middle blocks of the configuration contains uni-permeable cells which
are strongly segregated. These spaces have very low control value as well and their
permeability is controlled from the adjacent room in the rear block or from the adjacent corridor.
These uni-permeable small cells remained non-distributed. As we know that the non-
distributedness indicates a tendency towards a unitary super ordinate control13 (Hillier &
Hanson; 1984:97), so these spaces were controlled by their adjacent spaces.
Again, in Building no-45, there is no uni-permeable cell, rather all the spaces of Building no-45
are linked to one another through different rings. These spaces are strongly integrated with a
13 Super ordinate Control of space- the space that strongly controls its neighbouring spaces which are comparatively weak.
Fig- 5.13: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-45
94
weak control over their neighbours which ensures the easy permeability of these spaces. But
the front room holds strong control with the value 3.25 (Table-5.14).
Table 5.14 shows that the front room (space no-1) of Building no-45 is the most integrated
space of the configuration. The integration value (1/RRA) of space no-1 is 3.125 which confirm
strong integration of this space in the configuration. This space also has a strong control over its
neighbouring spaces with control value of 3.25. Again, it is only one step away from the root
point.
Being in the shallowest part of the configuration, space no 1 confirms the permeability of the
visitors in this space. Such strong integration in the front room which is the place of visitor-
inhabitant interface of the configuration is very uncommon in the residential buildings of Dhaka.
Moreover, all the spaces in a ring with the outdoor indicate the absence of privacy of this
building, which is also a very uncommon character for residential buildings.
Table-5.14: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-45.
5.2.3.2 Multiple Corridor type Buildings:
In this group Building no 2, 27, 41, 42 and 42A will be analyzed with space syntax. Among
these buildings, building no 42A is single storied.
Building no 2 and 42 (Fig-5.14 & Fig-5.17) has non-distributed uni-permeable cells in the middle
block of the configurations. Building no-41 (Fig-5.16) has also non-distributed uni-permeable
cells. But the pattern of the spatial organization is different from Building no 2 and 42. On the
other hand, all the spaces of Building no 27 (Fig-5.15) are distributed and bi-permeable.
Name Space no Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 1.5 0 1.63 2.22
Bi-p
erm
eabl
e R
oom
s
1 3.25 1 1.45 3.125 3 0.67 2 2.1 1.31 4 0.67 2 2.1 1.31 5 0.67 2 2.2 0.33 7 1 2 2.54 0.91 8 0.83 2 2.45 1 9 1.25 1 2.1 1.31
10 0.75 1 2.36 1 11 0.75 1 2.27 1
Corridor 2 0.5 2 2.1 1.31
95
From Space Syntax analysis it is found that, the bi-permeable rooms in the front and in the rear
blocks of these buildings remained integrated as it was found in single corridor building. The
middle block remained segregated. The transitional spaces especially corridors that connects
the front and rear blocks also remained integrated with a weak control over their adjacent
spaces. All the buildings are moderately deep sequence with number of intersecting rings.
Fig-5.14: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-2
Fig-5.15: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-27
96
In all cases the ground floor spaces are distributed with the outdoor. The outer most rooms are
strongly integrated and the middle blocks of the configurations are segregated in all these
cases. In Building no 2 and 27 the front room are found integrated (Table-5.15 & 5.16). The
integration value of front room of Building no-2 is 1.1 and Building no 27 is 1.61. These spaces
also have strong control over their adjacent spaces. All the spaces of Building no-27 are bi-
permeable and linked to each other with internal rings in different floors.
Table-5.15: Syntactic Data of Building no-2
Space Name Space no Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration(1/RRA)
Carrier 0 1 0 3.4 0.67
Bi-permeable Rooms
2 1.5 2 2.46 1.1 5 3 2 3.07 0.77 10 1.67 5 3.5 0.625 11 1.67 5 3.5 0.625
Corridor/ Veranda
1 0.83 1 3.1 0.77 4 0.6 3 2.77 1 6 0.75 1 3.7 0.6 9 1.16 4 3 0.83 13 0.33 6 4.46 0.46
Uni-permeable Space
7 0.25 3 4 0.53 8 0.25 3 4 0.53
Fig-5.16: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-41
97
In Building no 41, the frontal block of the system is divided into two small enclosed bi-permeable
rooms (space no-2 & 14). In this building the rear block is more integrated than the front and the
front rooms (2&14) are segregated in nature. The highest integration 1.25 is found in one of the
rear rooms (space no-8) in Building no 41(table-5.17). Again, in Building no-42 and 42A the
outer most rooms are strongly integrated. The integration value of the front room in Building no-
42(space no-2) is 1 and in 42A it is 1.96. The middle blocks of all these buildings are
segregated in nature with small uni-permeable and bi-permeable cells. These cells also have
Fig-5.17: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-42
Fig-5.18: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no-42A
98
weak control over their adjacent spaces. These cells also creates visual and physical buffer
between front and rear block which are the formal and informal zones of these configurations.
These two zones are only connected by these corridors. But the permeability to these corridors
is controlled by integrated frontal and the rear rooms.
Table-5.16: Space Syntax Analysis of Building no-27
Space Name Space no Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration(1/RRA)
Carrier 0 1 0 3.6 0.735
Bi-permeable Rooms
2 3.5 2 2.17 1.61 5 2.5 2 3.23 0.85 7 0.34 3 3 1 8 0.34 3 3 1
11 3 4 2.4 1.35 14 0.37 5 3.11 0.9 15 0.37 5 3.11 0.9 16 3 6 3.6 0.735
Corridor/ Veranda
1 0.64 1 2.8 1 3 0.34 3 2.9 1 4 0.34 3 2.9 1 6 0.7 1 4 0.67
12 0.36 5 3.1 0.91 13 0.36 5 3.1 0.91
Table-5.17: Space Syntax Analysis of Building No 41
Space Name Space No Control value
Depth Mean depth Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.67 0 3.1 1
Bi-p
erm
eabl
e R
oom
s
2 1.6 2 3.6 0.8 5 0.6 4 4.35 0.625 6 1.08 3 3.7 0.77 7 0.92 2 3.15 1 8 1 2 2.6 1.25
10 1.08 3 3 1 11 0.58 4 3.65 0.77 13 0.58 3 3.8 0.75 14 1.08 2 3.35 0.88
Corridors/ Verandas
1 1.17 1 3.15 1 4 1.5 3 3.4 0.87 9 1.17 1 2.7 1.25
12 1.67 3 3.25 1 Uni-permeable Room 3 0.33 3 4.6 0.6
99
Table-5.18: Space Syntax Analysis of Building No-42
Space Name Space no Control value Depth Mean depth
Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.83 0 3.57 0.83
Bi-permeable Rooms
2 2 2 3.1 1 5 2.33 2 3.1 1
10 1.2 1 2.95 1.1 6 1.2 3 3.95 0.7 7 1.2 3 3.95 0.7
Cor
ridor
s/
Ver
anda
s 1 0.75 1 3.71 0.8 3 0.45 3 3.33 0.9 4 0.45 3 3.3 0.9
15 1.92 4 3 1.07 Uni-permeable
Rooms 8 0.5 4 5 0.55 9 0.5 4 5 0.55
The front and the rear rooms, situated in the shallower arm of justified graph pose strong control
over their neighbouring spaces. These spaces therefore can be defined as the spaces which
play a significant role in determining the visitor-inhabitant and also inhabitant-inhabitant
relationship.
5.2.3.3 Buildings without Corridors:
Three buildings (4, 26 and 31) without corridor have been analyzed in this chapter. Among them
Building no 4 has a sequential trees14 having little or no branches. On the other hand, Building
no 26 and 31 are deep ringy configurations.
Building no 4 (Fig-5.19) is an atypical case of Panam which has a deep sequence with only one
ring in the ground floor. The first floor rooms remained sequential and unilinear. Therefore it is a
segregating configuration where the front room in the ground floor is moderately integrated with
the value of 1. The rest of the spaces remained segregated. The strong control of frontal room
in both floors strengthened this high degree of segregation. The mean integration of the system
is 0.625.
Building no 26 (Fig-5.20) is a deep ringy system and Building no 31(Fig-5.21) is again a shallow
system which is four steps deep from the carrier. All the bi-permeable spaces are distributed in
these configurations. The front room of both the configuration is strongly integrated with a value
14 Sequential tree-the justified graph that does not have any ring. In such graph bi-permeable spaces are linked with their adjacent spaces and ends in a terminal uni-permeable space.
100
of 1.31 for building no-26(Annex-2) and 1 for building no 31(Annex-2). The control value of this
space in both configurations is also very strong.
Fig-5.19: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no- 4
Fig-5.21: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no -31
Fig-5.20: Plan and Justified Graph of Building no- 26
101
5.2.3.4 General Discussion of Consolidated type of Buildings:
From above analysis, it is seen that, though corridors are important means of circulation in
consolidated type of buildings, but the number of corridors doesn’t influence the integration
pattern of the systems, because in all cases of these sub groups based on corridors, either the
front room next to Panam street or the rear rooms which also linked to the exterior poses the
highest integration value. The number of corridors has some influence over the ringiness of the
configuration; still there are other factors that had determined the spatial organizations of these
buildings. Such as-
- Among the configurations of these three sub-classes, some have their front room as the most
integrated space in the system. As the front part is the more formal part of the building it can be
said that the inhabitant-inhabitant and visitor-inhabitant relationship in the rear block was more
informal in respect to Panam Street. That is probably through a secondary entry or by the
sharing backyard facility. However both the peripheral rooms, those opens to the exterior, have
strong control over their neighbouring spaces. On the other hand, in almost all the cases, the
uni-permeable and bi-permeable rooms in the central part of these systems have a tendency of
segregation which is directly opposite to the model of centrally integrated systems which are
also available in Panam in ‘Double heighted hall type’ and ‘Court yard type’ buildings.
- The social interpretation of integration is to incorporating the major activities of a system. The
most integrated spaces therefore can be expected to hold the most important function or
circulation of these configurations. As in consolidated type of houses, the bi-permeable rooms in
the front and the rear part of the building which has a direst linkage with the outdoor and which
were obviously functional spaces rather than transitional space, are most integrated parts of the
system. Therefore it can be said that the functions, whatever they are, that the front and the rear
rooms hold are the reason behind the particular genotypes.
- Again, it is obvious that the formal visitors and strangers are expected to enter the systems
from Panam Street through the front room. From this point of view, the integrated front rooms
surely have such functional use that incorporates the outsiders in more formal way from Panam
Street. That is there must be a functional need to visitor-inhabitant interface. Furthermore, these
spaces have high control values above 1 which indicates that, though these spaces incorporate
the visitors frequently, still they had the authority and choice to control the accessibility of the
formal visitors in the interior of the configuration. On the other hand, the integrated rear block
indicates the more informal way of visitors-inhabitants interface. This room again has strong
control as well as the front room.
102
- In all sub-classes the central block of the system remained segregated. Theoretically, the
shallow graphs will tend to be configurationally more integrated (Hanson, 1998: 27). But in case
of Panam there are several shallow ringy trees have segregating tendency.
- The enclosed small uni-permeable cells in the central part of many of the consolidated houses
are terminal spaces, which are not the end points of the justified graph but are linked to the rest
of the complex by only one entrance. Such spaces only accommodate movement to and from
themselves. So it is in their nature that they are intended mainly for static occupations, ether by
people or things (Hanson, 1998:173). As the enclosed central rooms in consolidated type
buildings are not apparently habitable by their physical property and size, therefore these
spaces most probably had accommodated goods rather accommodating people. So, it can be
said that, situated in the physical center of a shallow distributed system, these central enclosed
chambers, still remaining non-distributed and segregated, were probably used as the store for
valuable goods. These non distributed uni-permeable chambers were surrounded by distributed
systems. Therefore these central non-distributed uni-permeable spaces were built to serve
some kind of purpose which needs insulation from everyday transaction as well as immediate
surroundings. To achieve this it must be unlinked as far possible from the surrounding spatial
system (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:159). The syntactic values of these spaces express this
requirement. These non-distributed uni-permeable spaces in the center of the consolidated type
of buildings have the lowest integration value and remained strongly segregated.
5.3 General analysis of the Buildings of Panam Nagar:
If we put the integration order of the convex spaces of all the samples, we can compare the
integration value of different spaces of each building.
- In Double Heighted Hall and Courtyard type buildings the Transitional spaces around
the hall or the court in the middle block as well as the front block remained integrated and the
rear block always remained segregated. On the other hand, the consolidated type buildings are
mostly integrated in the frontal block and the rear block of the building and segregated in the
middle block.
- All the buildings are distributed among more than one internal and external ring that
show their tendency towards diffusion of spatial control. Other than the small uni-permeable
enclosed cells and the non distributed vertical circulation, the spaces are found distributed in
ether internal or external rings in almost all the buildings. Ringy complexes usually support
social situations where the dominant interface in the dwelling is between an individual host and
103
his guests or between some group of residents in the house and their visitors (Hanson,
1998:278). Therefore, the outsiders or visitors were very dominant part in these strongly
distributed ringy systems of the houses of Panam.
- In central hall and central courtyard type houses, the court and the hall both have
transitional space around them through which the frontal block and the rear block are
connected. In both typologies, these transitional spaces in the center of the configuration are
strongly integrated. The hall and court are also integrated spaces, but the difference between
the hall and the court is that, the hall posses a strong control over its neighbouring spaces
where the court has a very weak control over its adjacent spaces. This difference in the choice
of permeability made the court and the hall syntactically two different kinds of spaces despite
their physical similarity.
- In all typology the systems remained as non corresponding system15 where the system
depends on weak rules, weaker boundaries and lack of spatial hierarchy (Hillier & Hanson,
1984:141-142). The systems tend to encourage the encounter between social groups and within
groups; whether the integration is high in the front room, in the rear room or in the transitional
space. Most of the systems has released in spatial solidarity16 and some in transpatial
solidarity17 in the central part of the configuration.
- In case of consolidated type of buildings, the external rooms directly approached from
the outdoor remained strongly integrated. The front rooms in consolidated type buildings which
can be directly approached from Panam Street are strongly integrated as well as have strong
control. Though the transitional corridors remained as integrated spaces, but unlike the
buildings with courtyard and hall, these transitional corridors in consolidated type buildings have
very weak control value. The permeability of these spaces was rather controlled by the adjacent
front or rear room connecting the outdoor. The rest of the central block remained segregated
and sometimes non-distributed.
15 A system which does not need strong control, strong boundary and internal hierarchy of spaces. It must seek to maximize local encounters regardless of labels and global encounters regardless of spatial group.
16 A spatial solidarity builds link with other members of the group by contiguity and encounter. It stresses not the separation of the interior but the continuity of the interior and the exterior. Movement across boundary is the fundamental condition of for existence of spatial solidarity. In a spatial solidarity, the weakening of boundary is associated with the weaker structure of the interior (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:145)
17 A transpatial system is a class of spatially independent but comparable entities which has global affiliations, not by virtue of proximity but by analogy and differences. Solidarity will be transpatial to the extent that it develops a strong and more homogenous interior structuring of space and emphasizes the discreteness of the interior by strong control of boundary (Hillier & Hanson, 1984: 145).
104
5.4 Classification of Buildings on Syntactic Properties:
The house by house review of the taken case suggests that, there is evidence of at least two
underlying spatial functional genotypes in terms of more or less standard way of constructing
the house and arranging its rooms. Here ‘genotype’ is defined in terms of some sets of
underlying relational and configurational consistencies which shows themselves under different
‘phenotypical’ arrangements (Hanson, 1998:99). From justified graph analysis of the samples
taken, a classification can be made for these houses of Panam Nagar. The house by house
review suggested a dominant type based on the existence of central hall or courtyard with the
four dominant properties of space syntax analysis of being ‘Shallow’, ‘Most Integrating’,
‘Lying on all Rings’ and ‘Linking or Separating Functional Spaces in the Interior’.
Disregarding those buildings which are too small and atypical, we have five possible cases of
the dominant ‘Courtyard’ and ‘Hall’ genotype and eleven cases of ‘Consolidated Type’ with
different syntactic properties. Two opposite characters in spatial organization is found in these
cases. They appear to be of two distinct spatial-functional tendencies, each of which expresses
itself through several different configurations of spaces. Therefore these buildings had certain
distinct genotypical tendencies.
i. To Integrate the Functional Spaces with the Central Part.
ii. To Segregated the Spaces with the Central Part.
All the buildings having courtyard and halls have the tendency to integrate most of the functional
space with the central transitional space. In this type, the court or the hall remain in the center of
all the rings that links the internal spaces and the exterior of the building. The highest integration
value remains in one of the transitional spaces adjacent to the court or the hall. These spaces
have strong control on their neighbouring spaces as well. The court and the hall is permeable
from most of the part of ground floor as well as from outside of the building and visible from the
corridors of the first floor over the court or the hall. In these types of buildings, the small
segregated rooms in the center of the building are not seen. Rather they are seen in the rear
part of the building. This genotypical pattern creates strong spatial differences among internal
spaces, incorporates the exterior into its pattern of strong integration in the central spaces.
On the other hand, buildings without a central courtyard or hall have a tendency to segregate
the internal spaces into parts. But there are variations in the spatial layout of this kind of
buildings. Among all the buildings some have their central spaces most segregated and non-
distributed. Their permeability was strongly controlled by the adjacent rooms from where these
spaces could be accessed. Others have their central spaces in sequence of two or three bi-
105
permeable rooms. In all cases, these spaces either distributed or non-distributed, have the
lowest integration value as well as the lowest control value. The highest integration remains in
the front or rear rooms that are one or two steps away from the exterior. These rooms also have
the highest control value. In this type of buildings more internal segregation is found among
functional spaces. It separates certain functions more clearly from outside and has a less
integrated exterior. These genotypes do not appear to be correlated either with size or with the
overall geometry of the building.
From above analysis, apart from Asiatic Society, a classification of house forms can be derived
in the context of Panam Nagar. The houses can be divided into two genotypes-
i. The buildings with integrated central space.
ii. The buildings with segregated central space.
In the buildings with integrated central spaces, the central space visually, physically and
syntactically integrates the total complex. On the other hand the houses with segregated the
central spaces have a tendency to segregate the total complex. The visual segregation is
clearly found. Spatial segregation has been done by the negative spatial quality, scale and
proportion of the corridors along with the small rooms in the center of the buildings.
5.5 Conclusion:
Domestic interiors have strong boundary of control and certain spatial hierarchy. At the interior
of the dwelling, control of territory within the house occurs differently in the private areas and in
the intimate areas (Hanson, 1998). Whereas the shared private areas are controlled by the
group in a general way, and temporarily by individuals. The intimate areas are controlled by
individuals, some spaces temporarily (bathrooms), others exclusively (bedrooms). The structure
of the house contributes to the demarcation of the household as a private community, and to the
development of community cohesion and individual territory and the pattern of informal relations
between people, spaces and time (Robinson, 2001).
But the buildings of Panam this intimate boundary of spaces are almost absent. From the
Space Syntax analysis of the buildings of Panam several significant characters can be identified
which are very unique in comparison to the definition of domestic interiors. Such as:
1. Strongly integrated front room which lacks privacy but at the same time posses the
highest control in the distributed system which again confirms the choice of permeability of the
outsider in the internal spaces.
106
2. Deliberate distribution of internal spaces with the outdoor in more than one ring which
again lacks privacy.
3. Non-habitable, uni-permeable and segregated cells in the center of the configuration
which probably were used as the store of valuable goods.
4. Double Heighted Hall and its adjacent uni-permeable cell which characterizes a temple
rather a residence.
5. Weak boundary between interior and exterior spaces etc.
Therefore, the previous idea related to the buildings of Panam being residential is now
questionable referring to the general concept of dwelling. The spatial configuration of house
layouts may be different in different periods, regions, cultures, and societies. Societies establish
order in their livelihood spaces and reflect their personalities in these spaces. There is a mutual
relationship between space and human relations. The differences in social systems reveal
morphological diversity in house layouts (Robinson, 2001). From this point of view, a
comparative analysis need to be done among the house form of Dhaka and the house form of
Panam to have a better understanding of the buildings of Panam.
107
Chapter-06
Comparative Spatial Analysis of the House Form of Dhaka and Panam Nagar
108
6.1 Introduction:
Houses everywhere serve the same basic needs of living, cooking and eating, entertaining,
bathing, sleeping, storing etc. but a glance at the architectural record reveals an astonishing
variety in the ways in which these activities are accommodated in the houses of different
historical periods and cultures. The important thing about a house is not that it is a list of
activities or rooms but that it is a pattern of space, governed by intricate conventions about what
spaces there are, how they are connected together and sequenced, which activities go together
and which are separated out, how the interior is decorated, and even what kind of household
objects should be in different parts of the home (Hanson,1998:2).
From the physical analysis in chapter three and four it is found that the plot distribution of
Panam Nagar is quite similar to the business streets of Dhaka. As there is no evidence such
mature settlement is found in the peripheral areas of Panam and as Dhaka had been
developing for four hundred years with great maturity, in the same region, it is conjectured that
the houses of Panam might have some similarities with the houses of Dhaka.
Apparently the courtyards, halls and spaces around the courtyard and double heighted hall look
alike with the introverted enclosed courtyard type houses of Dhaka. However the prevailing
literatures never attempted to compare the house forms of these indigenous settlements of
Dhaka with the house forms of Panam Nagar. Again the location of a ‘Company ka Kuthi’(Fig-
2.4) in the closest periphery of Panam refers to the probability of colonial influences over these
buildings. Therefore it is very necessary to compare the houses of Panam to the house forms of
Dhaka to find out the genotypes of these buildings. From this understanding this chapter will
examine the buildings of Panam in comparison to the house forms of Dhaka until colonial period
to find out how much similar they are to each other.
6.2 House Form of Dhaka:
Literature review shows that, until the end of colonial realm, two significant typology of house
forms-‘introverted’ and ‘extroverted’ were seen in Dhaka.
The introverted type houses developed chronologically with the development of the business
core of Dhaka city (Imamuddin, 1982; Haque, 1997). In the introverted houses of Dhaka, the
courtyard was a mandatory functional space which played a very significant role in organizing
spaces according to their hierarchy and provides light and ventilation to the deep interior of the
house. The spatial organization of introverted types of houses varies widely with the change of
the number of the court yard. From the analysis in chapter three it is found that, introverted
109
houses can be divided into two sub-groups-‘Enclosed Courtyard Type’ and ‘Detached Type’. As
the detached type of houses have no similarity with the physical layout of the compact buildings
of Panam Nagar and the enclosed courtyard type of houses are rather similar to the house
forms of Panam, this thesis will focus only on the enclosed courtyard types of houses of Dhaka.
This chapter will therefore study and analyze four cases of introverted houses with different
spatial organization and compare the cases with the previously studied cases of Panam to find
out the genotypes of the houses of Panam.
Again, as the present settlement of Panam is dated back to 19th and early 20th century and as
there were a number of references of conducting business with the East India Company by the
inhabitants of Panam; the extroverted house forms derived by the British rulers are also need to
be studied. Without the study of extroverted house forms, this research will be incomplete.
Therefore this chapter will take two cases of extroverted houses of Dhaka and compare these
cases with the cases of Panam Nagar. These cases have been selected randomly from
different published and unpublished literatures which had been conducted on the house forms
of Dhaka.
6.2.1. Case Study-1:
18, Bashi Chandra Lane, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka Type: Introverted
The building was built in mid 19th century as a residential building. The ground floor of the
building has a linear court in the rear part of the building which separated the living and service
zones. From literature review it is found that, the front part of the building was used for
commercial purpose and the rest of the building were used as residential purpose (Khan, 2013).
Space Syntax analysis shows that the building has a complex ringy tree and is seven steps
deep from the root point that has been taken from outside. The transitional spaces remained
strongly integrated. The highest integration is found in the corridor no 8(Fig-6.1&6.2) in ground
floor. The integration value of this space is 1.43 (Table-6.1). This corridor has also the highest
control value of 3 which means this corridor has strong control over its adjacent spaces. This
corridor links the outdoor with the indoor spaces and is linked to almost all the spaces in the
ground floor. Among the enclosed rooms, room no 9 (Fig-6.1) in the middle of the building acted
as the transitional space between the indoor spaces and the rear court. As a result, it remained
a strongly integrated space with a value of 1.22 (Table-6.1) in the configuration. The rest of the
living and functional spaces of this configuration remained segregated.
The court in the rear part of the building can be directly approached from the exterior but it still
remained segregated with an integration value of 0.86 (Table-6.1). Thus the court segregates
110
the living zone and the service zone both physically and syntactically. Therefore it can be said
that in this case the court was used for domestic services and acted as light and ventilation
shaft for the deep interior of the building.
Table-6.1: Syntactic Data of Spaces of 18, Banshi Chandra Lane
Space Name Space no Control Value
Depth Mean Depth
Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 1.5 0 3 1.25 Entry Corridor 8 3 1 2.64 1.43
Shop 1 0.6 1 3.72 0.86 5 0.75 1 3.76 0.85
Courtyard 11 5.3 2 3.72 0.86
Transitional Spaces
10 0.67 1 3.16 1.1 17(Stair) 0.4 2 3 1.2
18(1st Floor Court)
1.7 3 3.36 1
Fig-6.1: Plan of 18, Bashi Chandra Lane, Tanti Bazar Source: Khan, 2013.
Fig-6.2: Justified Graph of 18 Bashi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka.
111
The transitional spaces are distributed with the outdoor in large external rings and the internal
spaces are linked to each other by small rings. The rooms in the frontal part of ground floor are
also distributed in external rings. But the internal spaces like kitchen and other rooms and the
first floor spaces remained non-distributed with the outdoor. Rather they are distributed in small
internal rings or remained non-distributed as uni-permeable cells.
In overall analysis it can be said that the transitional spaces in the middle part of the
configuration remained as the integration core of this building. These transitional spaces
determined the visitor-inhabitant relations with in this building. The living and functional spaces
remained strongly segregated which ensures their privacy. The mean integration of the building
is 0.8.
6.2.2 Case study-2
27, Kotwali, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka Type: Introverted
It is a mid 19th century building which has an enclosed court which separates the living and
service zones of the building. The courtyard is placed in the middle part of the building
separating the commercial and residential block of the house. It also segregates the functional
and the living area of the building. The habitable rooms are placed in the first floor.
Ground Floor Room 9 2 2 3 1.22
Fig-6.3: Plan and Justified Graph of 27, Kotwali, Tantibazar, Dhaka Source: Khan, 2013
112
In space syntax analysis it is seen that the configuration is a moderately deep tree with six
steps. The highest integration is found in the stair (space no-10) which is placed in the middle
part of the configuration (Fig-6.3). It is two steps deep from the carrier and have a low control
value of 0.5; but the integration value of the stair is 1.28 (Table-6.2). The court remained as a
segregated space with an integration value of 0.87, still the transitional spaces around the court
remained integrated (Table-6.2). It is such a character that is seen in the courtyard type houses
of Panam. But unlike Panam, the transitional spaces in the first floor remained segregated along
with the rest of the spaces in this configuration. Again, though the court is a segregated space
in the configuration, still it poses a strong control value of 2.25 (Table-6.2) Thus being a
segregated space, the court still strongly controls its neighbouring spaces which is again is not
found in the buildings of Panam.
In spite of being in large external rings the spaces in this configuration is found distributed in
small internal rings. It indicates the sharing of spaces among the inhabitants rather with the
visitors.
In overall analysis it can be said that, the commercial and residential area of this building has
been separated both physically and syntactically by a number of integrated transitional spaces.
The commercial part of the building remained strongly segregated both locally and globally from
the rest of the residential spaces of the building. Thus the integrated transitional spaces ensure
the privacy of the domestic interior.
Table-6.2: Syntactic Data of 27, Kotwali, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka
Space Name Space no Control Value
Depth Mean Depth
Integration(1/RRA)
Carrier 0 4.75 0 3.05 1 Entry Corridor 5 0.42 1 3.26 1
Shop
1 0.17 1 4 0.67
2 0.17 1 4 0.67 3 0.17 1 4 0.67 4 0.17 1 4 0.67
Courtyard 7 2.25 2 3.31 0.87
Transitional Spaces
6 1.5 1 2.6 1.25 10 0.5 2 2.58 1.28 11 2.3 3 2.7 1.2 12 1.1 4 3.16 0.94 13 1.33 5 4 0.67
Living Spaces
15 0.25 4 3.6 0.77 16 0.33 6 5 0.5 17 0.75 4 3.42 0.83 18 0.83 5 4 0.67
113
6.2.3 Case Study-3
64, Shankhari Bazar, Dhaka. Type: Introverted
This building was built in late 18th century. It is a two storied building in the commercial street of
Shankharibazar where a group of ‘shell cutter’ of same ethnic group lived. The front part of the
building was used for commercial purpose (Haque, 1997:94). There is a small court in the
middle of the building which is connected by a long and very narrow dark corridor. This corridor
links almost all the spaces in the building in ground floor. The building is accessed through a
number of interconnected corridors in ground floor. The upper floor consists of a series of rooms
linked by the upper floor corridor. The first floor corridor is also partially open to the sky to bring
light in the dark interior of the building.
Fig-6.5: Justified Graph of 64, Shankhari Bazar.
Fig-6.4: Floor Plan of 64, Shankhari Bazar. Source: Haque, 1997
114
In Space syntax analysis it is found that the building is a deep uni-linear sequence without any
ringy property. The highest integration 1 (Annex-2) is found in the stair and the corridors
adjacent to the stair. The rest of the spaces remained strongly segregated. The transitional
spaces remained the only bi-permeable spaces in this configuration. The court is a uni-
permeable space placed in the rear part of the building with a strong segregating value of 0.6
(Annex-2). This courtyard separates the living and service zone of the building. Here the court
acted as the light well and ventilation shaft for the deep interior of the configuration. The
commercial part of the building remained segregated in the shallower arm of the configuration.
6.2.4 Case Study-4
10, Bashi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka Type: Introverted
This introverted type building has two courts. The pattern of spatial organization around the
court is much similar to the courtyard type of houses of Panam. The highest integration (Rn) 1.2
(Table-6.3) is found in the ground floor transitional corridor (space no-8) that links the front court
and the rear court. This corridor also has strong control value of 1.8 (Table-6.3). The front court
has a weak control over its neighbouring space; on the other hand, the rear court though
remained segregated have a strong control of 1.1 (Table-6.3). All the transitional spaces around
the front court and front court itself are integrated. The living spaces in the central part of the
Fig-6.6: Plan & Justified Graph of 10 Basi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar. Source: Khan, 2013
115
building are also remain integrated in the ground floor. But the rest of the spaces remained
segregated.
The building is ten steps deep from the carrier which has been taken from the street. A large
number of rings are seen in this building. Both the ground floor spaces and the first floor spaces
are distributed in external rings. But the segregating nature of the functional and living spaces of
the deep interior of the house encourage the inhabitants to go out more than to encourage the
visitors to enter as the high permeability of the low integration areas seems geared to allowing
the inhabitants out more than letting the strangers’ in. The system as a whole is geared to the
accessing, but at the same time to the control of strangers (Hillier & Hanson, 1984:122).
Therefore the deep ringy tree of this house at the same time ensures the privacy of living and
functional areas of the building from the visitors and gives the inhabitants the freedom to go out
of the house.
Table-6.3: Syntactic Data of 10 Bashi Chandra Sen Lane, Tanti Bazar, Dhaka.
Space Name Space no Control Value
Depth Mean Depth
Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.83 0 5.27 0.6 Entry Corridor 2 1.7 1 4.38 0.75
Front Room 1 0.7 1 4.45 0.735 Front Court 7 0.7 3 3.5 1 Rear Court 11 1.1 7 4.17 0.8
Ground Floor Transitional Spaces
4 2 2 3.5 1 5 1.8 3 3.45 1 6 1.12 4 3.31 1.1 8 1.5 5 3.14 1.2 9 1.2 6 3.65 1
10 1.1 7 4.34 0.76 First Floor
Transitional Spaces 19 2.5 4 3.62 1 20 0.6 5 3.5 1 21 1.17 7 4 0.87 23 1.17 8 4.45 0.75 25 1.8 9 4.72 0.67 28 0.75 4 4.34 0.76
Stair/Vertical Circulation
3 0.33 2 5.34 0.67 12 0.67 8 4.6 0.7 17 0.87 6 3.34 1 18 0.45 3 3.72 1
Bi-Permeable Rooms
13 1 6 4 0.9 14 0.67 7 4.5 0.71 15 0.8 5 3.4 1 22 1.2 6 3.3 1.1 24 0.67 8 4.65 0.71 26 0.33 10 5.7 0.5 29 1 3 5 0.65
116
Uni-Permeable Rooms
16 0.25 4 4.4 0.77 27 0.25 5 4.5 0.71
6.2.5 General Syntactic Properties of Introverted Houses:
Though the physical layouts of introverted houses vary case to case, but several common
syntactic properties are found in the above case studies. They are-
i. The highest integration remains in the transitional spaces in the middle part of the
building. The transitional spaces around the courtyard remain strongly integrated in introverted
houses when the court is situated in the central part of the configuration but when it is placed in
the rear part the court and transitional spaces around the court remained segregated. In case
study-4, the front court which is situated in the middle part of the house remained integrated
with the value 1 but the rear court remained segregated with integration value 0.8. Similar
examples are seen in other cases. In all cases most of the living and service spaces remained
strongly segregated.
ii. Most of the courts in these case studies have weak control over their neighbouring spaces.
However, the transitional spaces in the middle part of the building posses strong control as well.
In case study-1 and case study-3, the courts remained segregated and have weak control over
their neighbouring spaces. But the transitional spaces in the middle part of these building
always have strong control over their neighbouring spaces.
iii. As in most of the cases the existence of a secondary entry is found in the rear part of
the introverted houses, the ground floor spaces especially the transitional spaces are distributed
in external rings. But the living spaces like bed rooms remain non-distributed from the ring.
iv. In over all analysis it can be said that in introverted houses the transitional spaces
always remained as the integration core of the configuration and the living service spaces
always remained segregated whether they are in the shallower arm or in the deeper arm of the
justified graph.
6.2.6 Case Study-5
House of Debendra Mohan Das, Nawab Street, Warri Type: Composite Bungalow Type extroverted house.
117
This is an early 20th
century two storied
extroverted bungalow type
house in a spacious
compound. The service
zone is separated from the
main building block. The
living block of the building
is formally approached by
a shaded veranda or logia.
All the spaces of this
configuration are bi-
permeable. The staircase is situated in the central of the configuration which is surrounded by
continuous transitional spaces which connects all the living and functional spaces in the
configuration. The service block is linked to the main building block by a shaded veranda in the
rear part of the building. The upper floor is consists of several interconnected bed rooms which
can be approached from the transitional space in the center of the configuration. No particular
segregation of male and female domain is found in this building. Rather the segregation
between master and servant is extreme in entire complex.
6.2.7 Case Study-6
House of Engr. Gulzar Ahmed, Dhaka
Type: Consolidated Extroverted House:
Fig-6.7: Plan of the House of Debendra Mohan Das Source: Khan, 1999
118
This is a two storied building of early 20th century having its service area outside but adjacent to
the main living area. The lavatory and bathing places (space no-10 & 23) are with the main
living area which is comparatively modern concept. The service block consists of the kitchen
and the servant’s room (space no-7&8) in it. All the formal and family functions are distributed
around the hall room (space no-2) which is used as the formal living of the building. The first
floor has three rooms which are used as bed rooms. The dining (space no-5) and the formal
living are connected to the service area by a continuous shaded veranda. The servants used
this veranda to provide all the service to the main building.
6.2.8 Syntactic Analysis of Extroverted House:
- These two cases of extroverted houses have similar syntactic properties. The graphs
show extremely ringy tree with deep interior. But unlike the introverted type, the rings are
internally distributed in main building block. The service area is linked to the exterior but is not a
part of the internal rings. In case study 5, the service area is separated from the main living
block of the masters. Though in case study-6 the service area is physically arranged with the
main living block, still it is separated syntactically with transitional spaces and as uni-permeable
sells. Both the configurations are nine steps deep from the carrier (Fig-6.9 & 6.10). The mean
integration of case study-5 is 0.71 and case study-6 is 0.7.
- In both cases, all the spaces of the main living quarter are bipermeable and are
separately distributed into different intersecting rings which indicate that, though the complex is
Fig-6.8: Plan of the House of Gulzar Ahmed Source: Khan, 1999
119
strongly segregated from outdoor and the service area, but the internal spaces are easily
permeable for the members of the family and the ground floor has comparatively more
encouraging environment for the visitors along with the members of the family.
-
From the table-6.4 it is found that, other than a few transitional spaces in ground floor all the
spaces are strongly segregated in case study-5 with a strong control over their neighbouring
spaces except only those rooms which were probably used as bed rooms. In case study-6(Fig-
6.8) the central transitional spaces are integrated and the rest of the spaces remained
segregated. The highest integration 1.03(Table-6.4) in case study 5 is found in space no 6
which is a transitional space that links the ground and first floor. In case study 6 the highest
integration(Rn) 1(Table-6.5) is also found in central transitional spaces (space no-11 and the
stair). Hence it is seen that, in both type of extroverted house form the transitional spaces
around the vertical circulation remained integrated. The other living and functional spaces
remained segregated with low integration value as well as control value.
Table-6.4: Syntactic Data of House of Debendra Mohan Das (Case Study-5) Space Name Space No Control
Value Depth Mean Depth Integration
(1/RRA) Carrier 0 1.67 0 4.565 0.625
Transitional Spaces
1 0.45 1 4.8 0.6 5 0.9 3 3.52 0.9 6 1.2 3 3.17 1.03 9 0.85 1 4.04 0.74
10 0.9 2 3.565 0.87 11 0.75 4 3.17 1 12 0.75 5 3.26 1 14 1.25 6 3.43 0.93 16 1 7 4 0.77 22 1.25 7 4.04 0.74
Fig-6.10: Justified Graph of Case Study-6 Fig-6.9: Justified Graph of Case Study-5
120
Table-6.5: Syntactic Data of House of Gulzar Ahmed(Case Study-6)
Space Name Space No Control Value
Depth Mean Depth Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.4 0 4.3 0.67 Transitional
Spaces 1 1.53 1 4.35 0.67 3 0.8 2 3.7 0.83 9 4.2 1 3.56 0.88
11 1.6 2 3.17 1 12 0.7 3 3.17 1 13 1 4 3.26 1 14 0.7 5 3.43 0.91 15 2.7 6 3.7 0.83 20 1.03 8 5.1 0.55
Bi-Permeable Rooms
2 1.3 2 3.8 0.81 4 0.7 2 4.4 0.67 5 0.93 2 4.26 0.7 6 0.45 2 4 0.76
17 1.7 7 4.26 0.7 18 0.53 7 4.5 0.64 19 0.87 8 5.04 0.55
Uni-Permeable Rooms
7 0.14 2 4.5 0.64 8 0.14 2 4.5 0.64
6.3 Comparative Analysis of Panam Houses and the House form of Dhaka:
Several significant syntactic properties have been identified in the house form of Dhaka, which
are not found in the buildings of Panam. Such as-
1. In both introverted and extroverted type of houses the highest integration value remains
on the central transitional spaces. In Panam buildings the highest integration varies between
typologies. In the houses with integrated central space (Courtyard and Hall type) of Panam, the
strong integration is found in the spaces around the double heighted hall and the enclosed
courtyard. But in the buildings with segregated central spaces (Consolidated Type) the central
spaces of the configuration remained strongly segregated.
2. In the ‘buildings with integrated central spaces’ of Panam, the double heighted hall type
buildings poses certain unique characteristics that is very uncommon in the cases of Dhaka. In
Bi-Permeable Rooms
2 1.33 2 4.09 0.73 3 0.65 1 4.08 0.73 4 1 1 4.6 0.625 7 1.33 2 3.565 0.88 8 1.33 2 4.04 0.74
15 1.5 8 4.6 0.625 17 1.25 7 4 0.75 18 0.5 8 4.7 0.61 19 2.25 8 4.61 0.625 20 0.5 9 5.3 0.53
121
these buildings, the double heighted halls remained strongly integrated as well as have strong
control over their neighbouring spaces. In prevailing type of house form of Dhaka, there are no
evidence of such space is found, however, these halls are much similar in physical layout to the
introverted houses with enclosed court yard where the courtyard is situated in the center of the
configuration. But the syntactic properties of the hall are quite different from the courts of
introverted houses of Dhaka. These buildings with double heighted hall have their highest
integration in one of the transitional spaces around the hall. Moreover, other than the uni-
permeable cells, almost all the spaces of Panam houses are distributed both internally and
externally in one or another ring which is also an uncommon character in the house forms of
Dhaka. In the residential buildings of Dhaka, other than transitional spaces, very few spaces are
distributed with the exterior. Being in the physical center as well as in the syntactic center, the
hall remains integrated and strongly controls its neighbouring spaces. This is again not found in
the courtyards of the introverted houses of Dhaka that has been studied in this thesis. Therefore
the hall cannot be syntactically termed as the covered courtyard of these houses.
3. In residential buildings, large rings, that incorporate the exterior, intend literally to turn
the inside out and integrate the system with the exterior (Hanson, 1998:280). In the house forms
of Dhaka, different kinds of spatial distribution has been observed in the studied cases. In
almost all the cases of introverted types of houses the outdoor is distributed with the indoor
spaces with at least one large ring. But this ring almost always carries the transitional spaces
while the living spaces remained in uni-linear sequence18. Thus ensuring the privacy of the
living zones of the building. On the other hand, in the studied cases of extroverted houses,
almost all the spaces are distributed in small intersecting internal rings but do not link the
exterior. The exterior and the service area have been strongly segregated from the main living
zone of these buildings. In Panam, the highly ringy complexes incorporated the exterior spaces
within the building interior in more than one ring which made the configurations shallower and
reduces privacy in the interiors. This is also a very uncommon character of a domestic interior in
the prevailing type of the house form of Dhaka.
4. Again, in ‘houses with integrated central space’ of Panam, the buildings with enclosed
courtyard are physically similar to the introverted enclosed courtyard type houses of Dhaka.
These buildings also have some syntactic properties which are similar to the introverted
enclosed courtyard type of houses of Dhaka. Such as, strong control in central transitional
18 Uni-linear sequence is such a series of bi-permeable spaces which are linked to their next space but does not form any ring and thus ends in a terminal uni-permeable space.
122
spaces, comparatively weaker control in the courtyard; highest integration in the central
transitional spaces etc. In both cases of courtyard type buildings of Panam, Building no 33 and
34, all the transitional spaces in the central part of the configuration remained strongly
integrated. This is a significant character of the introverted house form of Dhaka that has been
found from the studied cases in this research. But, the frontal block of building no 33 and 34 are
also integrated spaces. More over these spaces also have a strong control over their adjacent
space. In building no 34 of Panam, the highest integration is found in the front room(table-5.8).
Hence, this special character of the buildings of Panam is a very uncommon in introverted
houses as well as in extroverted houses of Dhaka that has been analyzed in this research.
5. Like introverted house of Dhaka, court plays the role of integrating or segregating
different types of spaces in the configuration and acted as a breathing space in the buildings of
Panam. From physical and syntactic analysis therefore it can be said that the courtyard type
houses of Panam have some similarity with the introverted enclosed courtyard type houses
where the court is placed in the central part of the introverted buildings.
6. Therefore it can be said that, in the typology of ‘integrated central spaced buildings’,
those buildings which have courtyard in the middle of the configuration have some common
syntactic properties with both the introverted and the extroverted houses of Dhaka. Therefore
they might have some residential properties, but those buildings with double heighted halls are
quite different in comparison to the house form of Dhaka both physically and syntactically. The
hall is clearly visible from almost all the neighbouring spaces in both ground and first floor. It is
one or two steps away from Panam Street and can be easily permeable from the outdoor.
Almost all the spaces of this type of buildings are linked to the outdoor with more than one
external ring. The hall is situated in the locus of different intersecting rings which carries almost
all the spaces of the configuration. Thus not only the hall but the other spaces are also easily
permeable for the outsiders in double heighted hall type buildings. Though the central
transitional spaces remain strongly integrated in these buildings like the house forms of Dhaka,
the strong visibility, easy permeability and strong integration and control of the hall are not found
in the prevailing house form of Dhaka. Moreover the segregated uni-permeable cell coupled
with the strongly integrated hall remained as the unique characteristic of this type of building
which is never found in any types of house form of Dhaka.
7. From literature review it is found that, the prevailing houses of Dhaka had strong
boundary, spatial hierarchy and distinguished pattern, which is also absent in both types of
buildings of Panam with ‘integrated central space’ and ‘segregated central space’. In the
buildings with ‘integrated central spaces’, the spaces within the buildings are neither purely
bounded nor purely continuous, especially in those buildings with double heighted hall. In
123
buildings with segregated central spaces the formal zone of the building is strongly integrated
and the central part of the building is segregated.
8. Though there are some buildings which have significant boundary of the property, but
most of the buildings have very trivial boundary. Different literature ensured that the buildings
shared backyard facilities. Shared use of ponds and services is also found in Panam. This is
also an uncommon character in the prevailing house forms of Dhaka. Common service facilities
are seen in those buildings which are used by a large number of people. In residential buildings
this type of common service is not very popular among the inhabitants.
9. Buildings with segregated central spaces are completely different from any prevailing
typology of Dhaka. These are the buildings that have highest integration value in the frontal
rooms adjacent to the Panam Street which probably incorporated the visitors in the most
integrated space of the configuration. It is a very uncommon character in the prevailing types of
houses of Dhaka. Moreover, the highest segregation in the physical center of the configuration
is also an uncommon character in the house forms of Dhaka. When the center of the house is
segregated from the system it surely contains some very important space which needs isolation
as well as protection. In the ‘buildings with segregated central spaces’ these segregated
cells must have been used for such a function which needs isolation. The strongly integrated
peripheral room with a strongly segregated middle block made this type of buildings very
uncommon in the house forms of Dhaka.
10. In the residential houses of Dhaka, the upper floor spaces always remained as the
private part of the house and non-distributed from the ground floor spaces in all of the cases.
The spaces which are connected to the exterior never connects the private part of the building
directly. Rather the integrated transitional spaces link the private zones with the public zones of
the building. But in most of the buildings of Panam the privacy in the internal spaces are
minimized by distributed external rings. In almost all the buildings of Panam, except few
exceptions, the front room which can be directly approached from the street is directly linked to
the upper floor. Moreover, there are some examples where the upper floor spaces are
distributed with the outdoor which is again not a residential property. Therefore the upper floor
cannot be classified as a private space of these buildings. In other words, the privacy seems to
be absent in the buildings of Panam which once again is not a character of residential type of
houses of Dhaka.
11. In several buildings of Panam all the spaces are found distributed with the outdoor. It is
also a very uncommon character in the residential type of houses of Dhaka. Distributedness
124
encourages permeability and makes the space shallow to the system which results in the lack of
privacy. In almost all the cases, the absence of privacy is seen in Panam buildings.
6.4 Conclusion:
The comparative analysis of the houses of Panam with the house forms of Dhaka indicates
towards some definite assumptions. Such as-
a. In spatial order, Panam buildings cannot be positioned entirely in any category of the
prevailing house forms of Dhaka. Though some syntactic property of introverted enclosed type
and also extroverted type are similar to the genotypes with integrated central spaces, still further
extensive study in a broader scale needs to be executed to prove the hypothesis.
b. In courtyard type buildings with integrated central spaces, the courtyard and the
transitional spaces around the court much similar to the introverted houses of Dhaka. But the
double heighted hall doesn’t have this similarity. Though in double heighted hall type buildings
the central transitional spaces remained integrated. Therefore it can be said that, the buildings
with integrated central spaces might have some similarity with the house forms of Dhaka. But
the buildings with segregated central spaces are very unusual in comparison to the prevailing
type of houses of Dhaka. These buildings do not facade any similarity to any types of house
forms of Dhaka. Both the physical and syntactic analysis show that, these buildings with
segregated central spaces of Panam possessed unique characters which are not found in the
studied cases of the house forms of Dhaka.
c. Therefore it can be said that, buildings with segregated central spaces are completely
different from any prevailing typology of house forms of Dhaka. The syntactic values of these
buildings remain completely different from those of the prevailing type of houses of Dhaka.
Space syntax analysis shows that, these seem to be a very uncommon type among the
residential buildings of Dhaka. The integrated front room, extensively ringy shallow complex, the
strongly segregated central spaces and lack of privacy and boundary of area are not found in
the studied cases of the house forms of Dhaka. Therefore it is quite possible that these
buildings of Panam Nagar with segregated central spaces probably were not being used for
residential purpose. As this particular type of buildings does not possess any residential
characteristics, rather they probably had only commercial use which had easy access for formal
visitors who approached from Panam Street as well as for the informal visitors from the rear part
of the building.
From above discussions it can be said that, buildings with integrated central spaces especially
those buildings with the courtyard might had some similarity with the house forms of Dhaka and
125
therefore might had been used for living purpose. But the shallow ringy complexes of ‘double
heighted hall type’ and ‘segregated central space type’ buildings are probably were not used for
residential purpose as they have a very less residential quality. The consolidated buildings of
Panam with ‘segregated central spaces’ are a unique type of built form which has not been
found in any previous study of the house form of Dhaka.
Again, this thesis had undertaken only six cases of different types of house forms of Dhaka. So
it is still unknown whether there are any genotypes found among the secular houses of Dhaka
which had not been listed in the literatures that had been surveyed in this thesis. So extensive
study in a broader scale is needed to prove the hypothesis and find out the genotypes of the
built forms of Panam Nagar.
126
Chapter 07 Conclusion
127
7.1 Introduction:
This research has been focused on the morphological pattern of spaces within the buildings of
Panam Nagar which remained unexplained throughout the history of Bengal. Besides having
historic importance the built forms of Panam Nagar have some generic qualities which made
these buildings unique. The spatial pattern of these buildings must have some strong social
logic that represents the traditional as well as historical articulation of spaces. Over and above it
has been observed that the physical properties of these buildings remained completely
unchanged from its hay days which help to preserve its historic and social vocabulary.
Therefore the main objective of the present research was to find out the morphological
characters of these buildings and also the genotypes from the house forms of Dhaka of the
same time period.
7.2 Panam Nagar and its Context:
7.2.1. Historical Background:
Panam was a glorified village of the historic land of Sonargaon. From different historical
reference it is established in this thesis that the area Panam and its peripheral land were one of
the major weaving zones of the finest cloth ‘muslin’ for which Sonargaon was once famous.
Besides the production of ‘muslin’, various trades of agricultural products, spices and betel leaf
also had been conducted from this area. But with the establishment of the cotton factories by
the East India Company in Bengal, the flourishing trade of Sonargaon started losing its
importance. As a result, the entire area fell into decay. Sonargaon again revived only by the
reemergence of Panam Nagar in 19th and 20th century by a group of Hindu merchants. These
Hindu merchants who were both traders and money changers selected Panam Nagar as a
place for their business and occasional living sometime between 19th and 20th century. From
Panam they conducted a large trade of cotton and different English goods in the peripheral
area. These absentee land lords used to come to Panam Nagar once or twice in the year.
7.2.2. Physical Background:
Panam Nagar is a unique settlement in Dhaka region. The well organized settlement of Panam
is stretched on both side of a linear street which gives frontage to every building those exists in
Panam. More over this area is protected nicely with surrounding water body. Beside the central
formal circulation of Panam Street, the existence of a secondary informal circulation system with
shared service facilities in the backyard is also found in different literature resources which are
supported by physical survey in this thesis.
128
From the physical analysis it is found that, though these buildings give a harmonious façade to
the central street, they are quite different in spatial organization. Different types of spatial
organization are found in Panam. Such as- ‘Double Heighted Hall type’ (Fig-4.5, 4.9); ‘Courtyard
type’ (Fig-4.6, 4.14, 4.15); ‘Consolidated type’ (Fig-4.7). There are some other buildings which
have both a double heighted hall and an enclosed courtyard (Fig-4.16 & 4.17). A number of
single roomed buildings are also seen in Panam.
Double heighted hall type generated with a double heighted covered hall room as the main
focus of the layout plan. Thus this hall remained as the conceptual center of the building. Court
yard type represented those buildings which has an enclosed courtyard in the middle part of the
building. Again, the consolidated types of buildings are those buildings which have neither a
court nor a double heighted hall. Rather this types of houses consists of series of small rooms
without any open space in between.
In double heighted hall and courtyard type buildings the hall and the court remained in the
middle part of the building surrounded by the transitional corridors or verandas both lower and
upper floors. These corridors were open towards the hall and the Court. The front and the rear
part of the buildings were connected through these transitional corridors. In consolidated type
buildings, instead of hall or court, the middle block has been covered by small enclosed rooms
with minimum openings. The front and rear rooms are comparatively large and are connected
by very linear, dark and enclosed corridors (Fig-4.34) adjacent to the small rooms in the middle
part. Some of these buildings have only one corridor, some have multiple, and others have
none.
The plot division and arrangement of buildings on both side of a narrow central road gives
Panam a similar character as the commercial streets of Dhaka of pre-colonial period (Fig-3.9,
3.10, 3.11). The historical references identified these buildings as colonial buildings. So it was
important for this research to have a compact knowledge of the house forms of Dhaka that
prevailed from pre-colonial to Colonial period.
7.3 House Forms:
Panam is a unique settlement in Dhaka region where such a large assemble of different types
of buildings are found together. Therefore, to have a better understanding of the house forms of
Panam, the spatial organizations of the house form of Dhaka needs to be understood properly.
Hence, this thesis has conducted a study on the House forms of Dhaka that prevailed at that
time, from available literature review, with the intention to find out the typology where the
buildings of Panam fit among the basic and known typologies of the house forms of Dhaka.
129
7.3.1. The House Form of Dhaka:
The house form of Dhaka had been divided into two basic types-‘the Introverted type’ and ‘the
Extroverted type’. Introverted houses were developed with the organic development of the city
with enclosed courtyard surrounded by functional spaces. These types of houses are found in
the pre-colonial commercial streets of Dhaka like Shakharibazar, and Tanti Bazar. In introverted
houses courtyard played a very important role in providing the light and ventilation in the deep
interior of the house. In most of the introverted houses the frontal part were used for commercial
purpose. The courts remained as the buffer between the commercial and residential part of the
house. The service and functional zones of the house remained in the ground floor and the
living zone remained in the upper floors. Strong privacy had been maintained between the
formal and the living zones of the buildings.
The Extroverted houses were the improvisation of bungalows by the colonial rulers. These type
of houses posses completely opposite physical characteristics than introverted houses. The
Extroverted houses are outward looking courtyard less buildings situated in the middle of a
large compound. Two sub groups of extroverted houses are found in Dhaka-‘Composite type’
and ‘Consolidated bungalows’.
In ‘Composite type’ houses the service block remained separated from the main building block
by a large backyard. The main building consists of formal living, dining area and bedrooms and
the service block posses all the service facilities including servant’s room. In Consolidated type
houses the service blocks had been included in the living block of the building. But the
functional zoning of the houses remained similar to the composite type of houses.
7.3.2. The House Form of Panam:
Apparently the ‘Double Heighted Hall’ and ‘Courtyard type’ houses seem to have some
similarity with the introverted houses of Dhaka in terms of organization of spaces around the
enclosed courtyard. But the ‘Consolidated type’ buildings of Panam, as they are termed in the
Asiatic Society Research, are very different from the basic ‘Consolidated’ type. These buildings
may be termed ‘Consolidated’ as these buildings don’t have any court or a double heighted hall
in the middle of the configuration. In fact, these buildings are quite different from any typology of
house forms of Dhaka.
As very little is found in the prevailing literature about the spatial organization and functional
zoning of the buildings of Panam, a syntactic analysis has been conducted to find out the social
interpretation of the spaces of these buildings of Panam and also how these buildings are
similar or dissimilar to the house forms of Dhaka that prevailed at that time.
130
7.4 Syntactic Properties & Identification of Types:
7.4.1. Syntactic Characteristics of the house form of Dhaka-
a. Integration- In both Introverted and Extroverted type of house forms of Dhaka, the central
transitional spaces remained strongly integrated and the living zones strongly segregated.
Strong segregation between formal and family zone has been observed in introverted houses.
Again, a strong segregation in living and service block has been found in extroverted houses.
b. Ringiness- In introverted houses, the transitional spaces are found distributed in external
rings but other non-transitional functional and living spaces remained non-distributed and
segregated. In extroverted houses a large number of small intersecting internal rings have been
observed. The external spaces remained non-distributed in extroverted houses.
c. Depth- In general the house forms of Dhaka have deep interior. The formal part remained in
the shallower zone of the complex and the family and the living part remained in the deeper
zone.
d. Control- The highest control in the houses of Dhaka has been found in their transitional
spaces. The functional and the living spaces remained in segregated zones with weak control
over their neighboring spaces. The permeability of these rooms was controlled by the
transitional spaces.
7.4.2. Syntactic Properties of Panam Buildings:
Several syntactic properties have been observed in the buildings of Panam and selected cases
from Dhaka houses. Such as-
a. Integration- From syntactic analysis it is found that the buildings of Panam follow two distinct
genotypes in respect to their integration order. One, which have their middle block strongly
integrated and the other type which has equally strong segregated middle block. Therefore, this
thesis has been able to make two different typologies on the basis of spatial pattern; apart from
the given typologies by the Asiatic society of Bangladesh. They are-
i. Building with Integrated Central Space
ii. Building with Segregated Central Space.
In double heighted hall and courtyard type buildings the transitional spaces around the hall and
the court holds the highest integration of the configuration as well as the highest control value.
These buildings are classified as the buildings with integrated central space. Again, in
131
consolidated type of buildings, the central part of the building remained as the collection of
small, enclosed, segregated cells. So these buildings are termed in this thesis as the buildings
with segregated central space. In both types of buildings, the front room, which has a direct
interface with the central street of Panam, is an integrated space. This front room remained as
the highest integrated zone of the buildings with segregated central space.
b. Ringiness- Ringiness is a very common feature in the buildings of Panam Nagar. The
buildings of Panam can be termed as shallow configurations due to excessive ringiness.
In buildings with integrated central spaces, almost all the spaces along with the hall and the
court are distributed with the outdoor in more than one ring. It confirms the easy permeability of
the outsiders in the interior of the building. Furthermore, the hall and the court are placed in the
locus of different intersecting rings which made them a very significant space in the
configuration and locus of visitor inhabitant relationship.
In buildings with ‘segregated central spaces’, other than the unipermeable spaces, all the
spaces are distributed in external rings. The integrated and ringy front room was surely a place
for visitor-inhabitants interface in buildings with segregated central spaces.
c. Depth- The depth of the buildings of Panam varies according to their size and spatial
organization. The hall always remained in the shallower zone of the building. It is found two or
three steps deep from the carrier on Panam Street. The court remained in the middle of the
configuration.
d. Control- In the buildings with integrated central spaces, the hall posses strong control over
its neighboring spaces. It is also coupled with a uni-permeable non-distributed segregated cell
which has a very weak control. The accessibility to this space is controlled by the hall. Therefore
the hall and its adjacent spaces are probably a place for public gathering with some significant
purpose rather a simple household functional space. On the other hand the court has a very
weak control which determines the functional difference between the court and the hall though
the hall apparently looks like a covered court.
In buildings with segregated central spaces the strongly integrated peripheral rooms in the front
and the rear part of the buildings have strong control as well. It indicates that, thought the
buildings are much shallow in terms of depth and ringiness, still the permeability of the visitors
are locally controlled by the peripheral rooms of these buildings. Again, in buildings with
segregated central space, the uni-permeable segregated rooms in the middle of the
configuration have very weak control. The permeability of these rooms is controlled by their
neighboring spaces which refer to the conjecture that, these rooms were non-habitual and
probably used for the storage of valuable goods.
132
7.5 Conclusion:
From Space Syntax analysis, some significant characteristics of the buildings of Panam has
been identified. Though some of the buildings of Panam have few similarities with the house
forms of Dhaka, but in general these buildings are quite different in many ways. For example-
1. The buildings with integrated central space are similar to the introverted houses of
Dhaka in some physical and syntactic properties. In both genotypes the central transitional
spaces with enclosed courtyard is found integrated. But in the buildings of Dhaka the rest of the
spaces remained segregated to ensure privacy between formal and family blocks, whereas, in
buildings of Panam, apart from the central transitional spaces the peripheral rooms in the front
and the rear part of the buildings are also found integrated.
2. High degree of ringiness made Panam buildings shallower and easily permeable from
the exterior which is uncommon in the residential houses of Dhaka. Though the hall has a
similarity in integration pattern with the introverted houses of Dhaka, the easy permeability in
the hall is surely a very different character which is not common in the houses of Dhaka.
Moreover, in many buildings almost all the spaces are distributed with the outdoor and thus
internal spaces can be easily permeable from outside. This again is uncommon in Dhaka
houses.
3. The strong integration and control, easy permeability, location in the shallower part of
the configuration, strong ringiness and finally beautiful ornamentation made the hall a very
special place among the other internal spaces of the building. The spatial organization of hall
indicates it as a place for mass gathering rather a typical household function. This also is not
found in the house forms of Dhaka.
4. The integrated front room is also a very uncommon character among the house forms
of Dhaka. None of the studied cases have their front room integrated. Rather these spaces
remained as the formal zone of the house and remained segregated in both introverted and
extroverted houses. The segregated central space too is found nowhere among the house
forms of Dhaka.
Therefore, it can be said that, though the buildings with integrated central spaces have some
similarity with the house forms of Dhaka in syntactic as well as physical properties, still these
buildings are much different from the houses of Dhaka. So there is very less possibility of these
buildings being houses. Rather they might serve some other purpose with a controlled
residential use.
133
Besides, the buildings with segregated central spaces are completely different from any type of
house forms of Dhaka that has been studied in this thesis. Due to its unique spatial organization
this type of buildings is neither physically nor syntactically similar to the house forms of Dhaka.
Rather they might be a new type among the house forms of Dhaka.
From all the case studies it is quite clear that these buildings of Panam are unique in nature and
are completely new in the context of house forms of Dhaka that has been studied in this thesis.
Their spatial layout, distribution and pattern are different both physically and syntactically from
the residential type of houses of Dhaka. So it can be said that, these buildings were probably
not used for residential purpose. Rather they probably have some very significant commercial
use which was the reason to form this particular genotype.
Again, it is found in several historic references that a great trade of cloth and other items held in
Panam in 19th century (chapter-2). The historic references also give evidence of a cotton factory
directed by East India Company in the closest fringe of Panam. Therefore there is a strong
possibility that these buildings of Panam are related to this cotton trade and also with the
business of East India Company.
From the above study and analysis it is almost clear that, the buildings of Panam are not the
symmetric genotype of the residential house form of Dhaka. They are some unique built form
which posses a very less physical as well as syntactic characteristic of a house which has a
more private use pattern. Rather they have such syntactic properties that refer to a more public
use. Hence this research ends with this speculation that-
i. The buildings of Panam were not residential type of buildings. Rather with minimum
residential use, these buildings were most likely open for a more public use related to the
commercial purposes.
ii. The building with segregated central spaces is a unique type of building which is found
nowhere in the house forms of Dhaka and almost certainly were not made for residential use.
As the comparative analysis in chapter six only includes six cases among the house forms of
Dhaka, this hypothesis would not be proved with this limited study. Again the spatial analysis
could only identify the morphological characteristics of these buildings with the established logic
of space syntax. Still the origin and use of the spaces of these buildings remained unknown. So
a broader range of comparison needs to be done in a broader scale to find out the origin and
possible use pattern of these buildings. Therefore an extensive study will be needed in a much
larger scale to find out the unuttered sentences beneath the beautifully ornamented buildings of
Panam. The entire study of this thesis is just a doorway to disclose the extensively rich socio
134
cultural aspects of the region as the unwritten history of Panam is believed to be intertwined
with spaces within the buildings and engraved in each bricks of the city, a city that contained a
significant time period of the region of Bengal.
135
Reference: 1. Ahmed, Kamruddin (1970). A Social History of Bengal, Progoti Publishers, Dhaka.
2. Ahmed Nazimuddin (1986). Buildings of the British Raj. UPL- UNESCO, Dhaka.
3. Anderson, Nels (1960). The Urban Community; Holt, Rinchart and Winston, Inc, New York.
4. Ahmed Rafiuddin (1982). The Bengali Muslims 1871-1906, A Quest for Identity; Oxford University Press, Delhi.
5. Bhattasali N K (1977). Bengal Chief's Struggle, Bengal Past and Present, Vol. XXXV, Calcutta.
6. Batty Michael (2001). Exploring Isovist Fields: Space and Shape in Architectural and Urban Morphology, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Volume 28.
7. Bandyopadhyay, Abir (2006). Space Syntax — A Tool for Understanding Spatial Organization and its Change Over Time; Environmental & Planning B (EPB) Journal, vol-33.
8. Bustard W (1997). Space, Evolution and Function in the Houses of Chaco Canyon, Space Syntax First International Symphosium, London.
9. Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, Vol-2, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
10. Chowdhury, Abdul Momin. ‘Bengal and Southeast Asia: Trade and Cultural Contact in the Ancient Period’.
11. Chowdhury, Abdul Momin (1982). ‘Aspects of ancient Bengal Society and Socio-Religious Attitude: Tradition and Continuity’, Dhaka University Studies, Vol-XXXVII, pp: 148-160.
12. Chakrabarty, B (1992). Social Class and Social Consciousness; History of Bangladesh, 1704-1971, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
13. Cooper, Laurel M (1997). Comparative Analysis of Chacoan Great Houses, Space Syntax First International Symphosium, London.
14. Dursun P& Saglamer G (2003). Spatial analysis of Different Home Environments in the City of Trabzon, Turkey, 4th International Space Syntax Symposium London.
15. Dani, Ahmad Hasan (1997). Individuality of Bengali Art; Second International Congress of Bengali Art, National Museum, Dhaka.
16. Dawes M, Ostwald Michael J (2013). Precise Locations in Space: An Alternative Approach to Space Syntax Analysis Using Intersection Points, Architecture Research.
17. Edward B, Sibili M, Hakim M & Land P (2006). Courtyard Housing, Past, Present & Future, Taylor & Francis.
18. Frank B, Tahar Bellal (2001). Comparative Analysis of M'zabite and Other Berber Domestic Spaces; 3rd International Space Syntax Symposium, Atlanta.
19. Gomes Catherine D. & Nilufar Farida (2011). Understanding Privacy in Domestic Space: A Study of Transformation of Urban Houses in the Context of Dhaka. Cities in Transformation, Research and Design, Italy.
20. Husain A. B. M (1997). Sonargaon-Panam, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
136
21. H Blockmann (1968). Contributions to the History and Geography of Bengal, Calcutta.
22. Hillier Bill & Hanson Julienne (1984). The Social Logic of Space, Cambridge.
23. Hanson Julienne (1998). Decoding Homes and Houses, Cambridge.
24. Hillier Bill (1996). Space is the Machine, A Configurational Theory of Architecture, Cambridge.
25. Hussain, Md. Delwar (1987). A Study of Nineteenth Century Historical Works on Muslim Rule in Bengal, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
26. Hillier B, Hanson J, Graham H (1987). Ideas are in Things: An Application of the Space Syntax Method to Discovering House Genotypes, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, volume 14.
27. Hossain G. M. A Balayet (2013). Historical imprints of Panam Nagar; Built Heritage Monitoring Conservation Management.
28. Haque Ferdous Ara (1997). Multi-Court Houses of Old Dhaka, Unpublished Dissertation of Masters of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology.
29. Islam A. K. M Kausarul (2003). Patterns and changes in vernacular architecture in Bangladesh, Masters of Science Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
30. Imamuddin, Abu H (1982). A Study on Urban Housing in the Context of Dacca, Bangladesh; Unpublished dissertation; Master of Engineering in Architecture, Faculty of Applied Science; Katholieke University of Leuven.
31. Islam, Sirajul (1999). Banglar Itihash, Ouponibeshik Shashon Kathamo, Bangla Academy.
32. Islam Sirajul (2007). Cultural Survey of Bangladesh(vol-1-4); Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
33. Imamuddin Abu H et al (1993.). Architectural Conservation of Bangladesh, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
34. King, A. D (1984). The Bungalow, The Production of a Global Culture; Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, Henley and Boston.
35. Khan, Akbar Ali (1996) Discovery of Bangladesh, Explorations into Dynamics of a Hidden Nation, Dhaka.
36. K.M.Ashraf (1980). Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan.
37. Khan, Muazzam Hussain (2009). Thousand Years of Sonargaon, Dhaka.
38. Karim, Abdul (1991). Origin and Development of Mughal Dhaka; Dhaka Past, Present and Future, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
39. Karim Abdul (1964). Dacca-The Mughal Capital, Asiatic Society of Pakistan.
40. Kabir, N et al. (2007). Towards a comprehensive Study on the Colonial Township, Panam Nagar: Identification, Evaluation and Management with reference to Settlement Archeology and Cultural Heritage Management. Pratnatatto, Vol-15. Department of Archeology, Jahangirnagar University.
41. K. Iftekhar Ahmed (2006). The Rural Bangladeshi Courtyard, BRAC University Journal, Vol. III, No. 1.
137
42. Khan, Iftekhar M (1982). Alternative Approach to the Redevelopment of Old Dhaka, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Faculty of Applied Science; Katholieke University of Leuven.
43. Khan Nayima (2009) Study of Morphological Transformation in Planned Residential Area of Old Dhaka, Unpublished Masters of Architecture Dissertation, Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
44. Khan, Fatema Meher (2013). A Morphological Study of Tanti Bazar Area in Old Dhaka with Particular Attention to the Development of Shophouses, Unpublished Masters of Architecture Dissertation, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
45. M I Abdullah (1971). Ibn Batuth's account of Bengal, Calcutta.
46. Mustafa F. A, Hassan A. S & Baper S. Y (2010). Using Space Syntax Analysis in Detecting Privacy: A Comparative Study of Traditional and Modern House Layouts in Erbil City, Iraq; Asian Social Science Vol. 6, No. 8.
47. Mowla Qazi Azizul (2008). Panam Nagar: Conservation and Management for Posterity; CMHB, University of Lund, Sweden.
48. Nezhad A Kharaxmi & Bastani K H (2012). Common Socio-Spatial Aspects of Historic Houses in Ardabil, Iran, Eighth International Space Syntax Symposium.
49. Nilufar Farida (1997). The Spatial and Social Structuring of local Areas in Dhaka City- A Morphological Study of Urban Grid with Reference to Neighbourhood Character within Naturally Grown Areas; Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Unit for Advance Architectural Studies, University College London.
50. Rapport, Amos (1977). House form and Culture; Prentice Hall, INC, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
51. Roy, Jatindramohan (1911). Dhakar Itihash, Kolkata.
52. Roy, Nihar Ranjan (1956). Bangalir Itihash.
53. Rahman M, Haque Ferdous Ara (2001). Multiple Courtyard Mansion of Dhaka, Form and Context, T DSR volume xii.
54. Reza, A. T. M. Masud (2008). Study of the Development of Zamindar House, Dhaka Division; Unpublished Dissertation of Masters of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology.
55. Rizvi, S. N. H (1969). East Pakistan District Gazetteers, East Pakistan Civil Service.
56. Screver P, Prakash Vikramaditya (2007). Colonial Modernities-Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and Ceylon.
57. Swamy Anand V, College Williams (2010). Land and Law in Colonial India, Long-term Economic Change in Eurasian Perspective, Stanford University Press.
58. Schoenaure Norbert (1981). 6000 years of Housing, Norton & Company, NY.
59. Steadman, P (1989). Architectural Morphology, an Introduction to the Geometry of Building Plans; Pion Limited, London.
60. Tailor, James (1840) A Sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dhaka. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
138
Annex-1
Space Syntax
The term space syntax encompasses a set of theories and techniques for the analysis of
spatial configurations. It was conceived by Bill Hillier, Julienne Hanson and colleagues at The
Bartlett, University College London in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a tool to help urban
planners simulate the likely social effects of their designs. This analysis method is designed to
identify the topology of social relationships, how people are organized in space. It is adapted
from Hillier and Hanson's Gamma Analysis as described in The Social Logic of Space. It can be
used to see who inhabits positions of power and who does not. It can also be used to
understand the accessibility of individuals to each other and the degree of freedom in circulation
between points.
Space syntax has been considered an important theory and analytical tool to investigate how
space influences not only movement but also all activities by quantifying spatial configuration
(Hillier & Hanson, 1984). It has also become a computer-based analysis to describe the spatial
pattern of building and the urban space. This analysis suggests certain general principles for the
analysis of building as a spatial pattern. First, space is intelligible if it is understood as being
determined by two kinds of relations, rather than one; the relationship among the ‘inhabitants’
and the relationship between the ‘inhabitants’ and ‘visitors’ (Hillier and Hanson, 1984:15).
Inhabitants are those in whom power is vested, i.e. the controllers, whereas visitors are those
who enter and stay as subjects of the controllers. In some cases ("reversed buildings" like
prisons), the visitors may actually spend more time in the building than the inhabitants.
Therefore, Space Syntax can be defined as the syntax of space, i.e. the organization of its
individual units that determines the relationships between individuals in a social unit. Spatial
relations influence the level of access between individuals and the level of control each can
have over one another. The buildings here are termed as systems or configurations and the
spaces are termed as nodes.
Types of Spatial Relationships:
Asymmetrical Spatial Relationships-Where two or more spaces (points) have indirect
relationships with each other and which leads to "tree-like" graphs (Fig-2).
Symmetrical Spatial Relationships- where two or more spaces (points) have direct
relationships with each other and leads to "ringy" graphs (Fig-3).
139
A group of buildings can be termed as symmetric genotype when their spatial pattern have
similarity in syntactic measures and have a similar genotypical origin. Thus, the socio spatial
pattering of the perceived local areas seems most likely to be divulged by the spatial analysis of
space syntax.
Space Syntax is a set of descriptive technique for representing, quantifying, and modeling
spatial configuration in building and settlement. Different measures are used to establish the
relation between the space and the inhabitants or the relation of inhabitants and visitors with the
space. Among the three transcription which are commonly used to break up its layout into its
constituent element – axial, convex and visual field – this study has been carried out with the
use of convex space (Fig-1)- defined by polygons where no line drawn between any two points
in the space goes outside it. A concave space (Fig-2) has to be divided into the least possible
number of convex spaces to transform into graph.
Graph is a figure representing the relationships of permeability between all the convex spaces
of a layout. The spaces are represented by circles or dots (called nodes) and the links with
lines.
Among different diagramming technique of space syntax, justified graph is one which has been
used in the present research. Human space is not just about the properties of individual spaces,
but about the interrelations between the many spaces that make up the spatial pattern of a
building. These interrelations can be presented by a justified graph.
A justified graph (Fig-3) is a diagramming technique for revealing the
topology of a spatial organization. A justified graph organizes the
spaces in a building in relationship to each other with the carrier at
the bottom and the other spaces arranged in rows above
Fig-1: Example of Convex Space Fig-2: Example of a concave space
Fig-3: Justified Graph
140
corresponding to the number of steps in from the carrier. It is restructured so that a specific
space is placed at the bottom, “the root space”. All spaces one syntactic step away from root
space are put on the first level above, all spaces two spaces away on the second level, etc.
Justified graphs offer a visual picture of the overall depth of a lay-out seen from one of its
points.
A tree-like justified graph has most of the nodes many steps (levels) away from the bottom
node. In such a system the mean depth is high and described as deep. On the other hand, in a
bush like justified graph nodes remain close to the root space. That means they are few steps
away from the bottom node. This type of system has low mean depth and described as shallow
system.
Graphing conventions in Justified Graph:
The carrier represented by a single point (0) and each space represented by a point
which is called node
Physical connections through doors and passageways are diagrammed as solid lines
between two nodes. These lines are termed as links.
Stairways are considered individual spaces.
Spatial Measures used in Space Syntax: Different measures of space syntax help to
establish the social logic of configurational organization of spaces from a graph. Such as-
Integration: Among the all measure the first and the most important measure of Syntactic
analysis is Integration. It is a derivative measure which is used to eliminate possible effects
owing to the number of convex spaces of a system, and thus to compare systems of different
syntactic sizes (Guney & Wineman, 2008).The integration of a space is a function of the mean
number of lines and changes of direction that need to be taken to go to all other space in the
Fig-4: Tree like Justified Graph Fig-5: Ringy Justified Graph
141
system. Integration is therefore about syntactic not about metric accessibility and the word
depth rather than distance is used how far a space is lies. The integration or real relative
asymmetry (RRA) value of a space expresses the relative depth of the space from all others in
the graph (Hillier et al, 1987). Lower values of RRA indicate higher integration and the higher
values show greater segregation. Mean integration expresses how shallow or deep on average
spaces in the complex are from one another (Hanson, 1998). Integration is a global static
measure in that every convex space is assign a value which characteristic its relation to all other
spaces in the configuration, thus provide a global index of relative integration and segregation
for that line relative to all others. These values of well below 1 – of the order of 0.4 to 0.6
indicate more segregation and while the value ending to and above 1 show strong integration.
Depth: Depth (Fig-6) as a Syntax measure
is defined as the least number of syntactic
steps that are needed to reach from one line
to another; the number of steps refers to
changes in direction. The mean depth can
be calculated from the justified graph by
multiplying the number of lines on a level by
the level number, summing across levels
and dividing by the number of levels in the
system. This value reflects the integration
value for a line; the least the number shows
shallower in the graph and more integrated,
whereas larger the number indicates deeper
in the graph and tends more segregated. The concept of integration became a central point in
all implications of the theory and methodology of space syntax. The genotype describes the
integration (and segregation of space) as per their access relations.
The mean depth is generalized by how deep the system is from a particular point(carrier) with
how deep or shallow it theoretically could be-the least depth existing when all the spaces are
directly linked to the original space and the most depth when all the spaces are in a unilinear
sequence Away from the original space(carrier). This generalization is represented through
‘relative asymmetry’ (RA) value, which is the mean depth expressed as a fraction of the
maximum possible range of depth values for any node in a graph with the same number of
nodes as the system. This is calculated by:
RA= 2(MD-1)
Fig-6: Depth from outside of the Building
n-2
142
This will give a value between 0 and 1. Low value indicates a space from which the system is
shallow (more integrated) and high value indicates a space from which the system tends to be
segregated. However, if comparisons are to be made across systems that differ significantly is
size, one has to make some transformations in the RA values to eliminate the effect of size on
the ‘levels’ of RA values in the real system. These transformed RA values are known as ‘Real
relative asymmetry’ (RRA) values. The transformation of RA to RRA values is shown as:
RRAi=RA
Dn
where RRAi is the Real relative asymmetry value of space i, and Dn is the transforming factor.
The Dn values may be calculated by a formula which is:
Dn=2(n(log(n+2)/3)-1)+1
(n-1)(n-2)
The spaces are then arranged as per the order of integration (or RRA) values. RRA value will
not be simply between 0 and 1. But above and below 1. Values well below 1 (of the order of .4
to .6 will be strongly integrated, while values tending to 1 and above 1 will be more segregating.
This arrangement reveals a set of patterns that partially manifest a culture’s social
presuppositions in a way plans themselves do not immediately reveal.
Ringiness of Space: The second configurational
property of ‘choice’ is measured by the number of
alternative‘routes’ from one node to another in a j-
graph. Ringiness is such a measure which
influences the depth of the system and
determines the permeability of a space. It is also
sets the inhabitants-inhabitants and visitor-
inhabitant relationship. The spaces of a ringy
system are shallower than the spaces of a non
ringy system. The spaces within a ring are termed
as distributed space. When a ring is distributed
with the outdoor it is called external rings. These
external rings make the internal spaces much
shallower and permeable for the visitors. Thus a
distributed system is a set of spaces through
which the visitors, subject to more or less control, may pass; while the nondistributed system is
the domain of the inhabitants with stronger sanction against penetration by the visitors.
Fig-7: Ringy and Non-ringy complex
143
Sometimes one space becomes the center of more than one intersecting ring. This space then
becomes one of the most integrated spaces of that configuration.
Control: Control is a measure of the extent to which a given space controls the access to the
spaces that are adjacent (immediately connected by an edge) to it. If each space has a certain
number of n immediate neighbours, then each space gives to its immediate neighbours 1/n, and
these are then summed for each receiving space to give the control value of that space (Hiller
and Hanson, 109). The control of space is inversely proportional to the connectivity of the
adjacent spaces. When the control value of a space is above 1, that space then represents
having strong control over the permeability of its adjacent spaces. On the other hand, when this
value is around 0.5, the space has a weak control over its neighbouring spaces and its own
permeability depends on one or more of its adjacent space. Thus control value interprets the
local behavior of spaces.
Relationship of a Building with its Inhabitants and Visitors: Every building even a single
cell, identifies at least one ‘inhabitant’, in the sense of a person with special access to and
control of the category of spaces created by the boundary. Inhabitant is thus a categoric
concept, and therefore a transpatial entity. In that sense inhabitant is part of a global categoric
reality as a result of being mapped into local bounded space of the interior. With the visitors the
effect is different. Every building selects a subset of ‘visitors’ who may enter the building
temporarily but may not control it. Thus an abstract system of these relations can perhaps
clarify their underlying genotypes.
144
Annex-2
Syntactic Data of the Buildings of Panam
Table-1:Syntactic Data of Building no-1
Name Space No Control Value Depth
Mean Depth Integration
Carrier 0 1 0 3.06 1 Front Room/Veranda 1 1.4 1 2.6 1.25
Corridors around Double Heighted Hall
2 0.75 2 3.11 1 3 1.3 2 3.22 0.885 4 1.6 1 2.6 1.25
11 2.1 3 2.6 1.25 12 2.1 4 2.8 1 13 1.6 5 3.3 0.83 14 1.6 4 3.1 0.91
Double Heighted Central Hall 5 2 2 3.2 0.885 Uni-Permeable Cell Adjacent to the Hall 6 0.25 3 4.2 0.625
Enclosed Rooms in the Rear and Upper part of the Building
7 0.6 1 4 0.71 15 0.3 5 4.1 0.625 16 0.3 6 4.3 0.6 17 0.25 4 3.5 0.77 18 0.25 5 3.7 0.735
Table-2: Syntactic Data of Building no-9
Name Number Control Value Depth Mean
Depth Integration (1/RRA)
Carrier 0 0.8 0 3.5 0.67 Front Room 1 1.1 1 2.8 1
Corridors around the Hall
2 1 2 2 1.43 3 1 2 3 0.77 5 1 2 3 1 10 1.6 5 3 0.77 11 1 6 4 0.6 12 1.5 4 2.5 1 13 1 5 3.2 0.77
Double Heighted Hall 4 2 3 3 1 Small Cell with the Hall 7 0.25 4 4 0.625 Enclosed Rooms in rear and Upper Part
of the Building
6 0.75 1 3 0.71
9 0.33 6
4.1 0.5
145
Table-3: Syntactic Data of Building no-26
Name Control Value
Depth Mean Depth
Integration Value (1/RRA)
0 0.84 0 3.34 0.86 1(Front Room) 3.33 1 2.5 1.31 2 0.47 1 3.33 0.83 3 0.34 2 3.33 0.83 4 0.34 2 3.33 0.83 5 0.34 2 3.33 0.83 6 0.34 2 3.33 0.83 7 2.33 1 3.8 0.71 8(Stair) 0.34 2 2.3 1.47 9(Front Room,1st Floor) 2.5 3 2.3 1.54 10 0.7 4 3 1 11 1 5 3.5 0.77 12 0.53 4 3 1 13 0.53 4 3 1 14 0.7 4 3 1 15 0.83 5 3.5 0.8 16 1.33 5 3.4 0.82 17 0.83 6 4 0.65 18 1.33 6 4 0.7
Table-4: Syntactic Data of Building no-31 of Panam Nagar
Name Space No
Control Value
Depth Mean Depth
Integration
Carrier 0 1.1 0 2.25 1.22 Uni-permeable Room 1 0.33 2 3.5 0.61 Front Room 2 1.6 1 2.6 1 Middle Room 3 1.42 2 2.1 0.885 Bi-Permeable Room 4 0.5 2 2.5 1 Bi-Permeable Room 5 1.75 2 2.6 1 Uni-permeable Room 6 0.3 3 3.5 0.61 Rear Room 7 1.6 1 2 1.5 Rear Room 8 0.67 1 2.75 0.87 Stair 9 0.6 2 2.42 1.1 Uni-permeable Room 10 0.3 4 4 0.52 uni-permeable Room 12 0.3 4 4 0.52
146
Table-5: Syntactic Data of Building no 39
Name Space No Control Value Depth Mean Depth Integration
Carrier 0 0.8 0 4.5 0.67 Rear Veranda 13 0.8 1 5 0.6
Cor
ridor
s ar
ound
D
oubl
e H
eigh
ted
hall
1 1 1 4 0.77 3 1.3 2 3.4 1 6 2 3 3.3 1
15 3.3 5 3.5 0.9 16 1.7 6 4.2 0.77 17 0.2 6 4.5 0.67 25 0.3 7 5.1 0.5
Stair 14 0.5 4 3.4 1 Double Heighted
Hall 2 1.8 2 3.6 1
Small Chamber adjacent to Hall 4 0.25 3 4.6 0.67
Bi-permeable Rooms in the Rear Block
5 0.8 3 4 0.77 7 0.8 3 4.5 0.67 9 2.5 2 5 0.6
11 1.3 3 6 0.5 18 0.8 7 5 0.625 19 0.8 8 5.5 0.5 21 0.7 6 4.2 0.7 22 0.8 7 5 0.6 24 2 8 5.52 0.5
Uni-permeable Rooms in the Rear Block
8 0.3 4 4.2 0.7 10 0.3 3 6 0.5 12 0.5 4 7 0.4 20 0.2 6 4.5 0.67 23 0.3 9 6.5 0.43